


Raging Shadows

by astrologiic



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Few OCs - Freeform, Multi, Not a chaos fic, Yes the minor characters are actually in this gasp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-10-25
Packaged: 2018-05-25 19:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 43,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6208060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrologiic/pseuds/astrologiic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's amazing, you know. Seeing how fast one who once had power can crumble in a matter of time."</p>
<p>The demigods of Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter thought they might actually get a break. Unfortunately, that's not how things work in the supernatural and mythological world. It all started when the monsters disappeared, replaced with dark cloaked figures, and when demigods one by one started vanishing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Time was ticking, and it was going by fast.

Yet he wasn't moving, just slumped against the wall, frozen with dread. The fear ate at him, tearing him apart. His eyes darted around the room, waiting for something horrible to happen. His breaths came out shaky, panic filling up. The darkness was his only company, the ticking of the clock barely washing away the silence.

He didn't dare close his eyes, so when he did, he snapped them open fast, waiting for them to be there, ready to accuse and torment him some more.

It was bad enough with Tartarus, but his own friends? The people he failed to help? He couldn't handle it. Not a single bit. Anxiety built up, guilt tore at him every second, no matter how many times people said it wasn't his fault.

But it was. It was his fault.

Because he did nothing to prevent it. And now they're getting revenge, revenge for letting them down, revenge for forgetting what he'd done.

And now he was paying the price the hard way.

He waited, for the familiar cracked skull and crushed bones, for the charred and peeling skin on the face that was once beautiful, and for everyone else he failed.

Percy held back a sob. He was losing. The ticking went by faster, the shadows seemed to move, closer and closer, like an animal circling it's prey. He saw what they did to horrible, disgusting people like him, and he didn't want to be next. Even though every instinct screamed to run or grab Riptide or to get off his ass and do something about it, he couldn't. He just couldn't do it.

Instead he sat there, huddled up, paralyzed by the fear and utterly terrified out of his mind, like some little, defenseless kid.

Like the kid he used to be.

He faced so much, and yet, there was something about this that just scared the living hell out of him. Percy wanted to scream. He really did. But screaming didn't do much when you're drowning. It only lets the water in.

So he stayed quiet. He watched as the horrible truth unraveled, because the truth always somehow, no matter how ugly, it always catches up to you.

And it always hurts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the problem is first noticed.

 

**A N N A B E T H**

**_Few weeks before_ **

"So, you're saying every single monster in that forest has just, disappeared?" Chiron questioned, looking doubtful.

"I swear on the River Styx, all of them have just vanished or something." Juniper, trying to catch her breath. Grover was by her side, a hand placed on her shoulder as he nervously chewed on a can.

Annabeth frowned. Sure, the fact that the nuisances are finally gone seems like a good thing. The problem was where they went off to. She pondered about this for a little, eyebrows furrowing. What if someone, (or something. In this world, anything was possible.) was planning to create an army of some sort? What if-

Percy seemed to notice her discomfort and gave her a small smile. "Hey, everything will be fine. Besides, they were all annoying anyway, right?"

Annabeth really adored him for being there and trying to lighten the mood, but she could tell he was also a little anxious. Everyone was at least a little anxious about this random change.

She glanced back at Chiron, who also looked deep in thought. Mr. D, on the other hand, waved it off. "Bah. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. "

"The monsters are all gone, we have no idea where they went, and you're saying it's nothing to worry about?" Clarisse stated, eyes narrowing.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Cassie."

"Clarisse."

"Whatever."

Clarisse scowled, but didn't make another sound. There was nervous murmuring among the counselors, until Rachel finally stood. "Well, we obviously can't just sit here and do nothing. We should go out and see what's going on over there."

Drew snorted. "Says the mortal. You don't even do anything."

Rachel kept a neutral expression on her face, though Annabeth could tell she was agitated by the fact she was turning as red as her hair and her fists were clenched. Her gaze averted to Piper. "Why is she even here? Is she asking to get her fake ass kicked?"

"Enough. Bickering will not help with anything." Chiron scolded the two.

Rachel opened her mouth to retort, but instead sat back down, deciding Drew wasn't worth her time or something. Drew had a smug smile on her face that made Annabeth want to throw her shoe at her. That was until she realized Percy was really influencing her more than she thought.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Anyway, we'll discuss more about this later. There are things that must be done."

The teens surprisingly didn't even bother putting up a fight. They seemed suspicious, obviously. (Also known as Nico.) The nymphs vanished in a puff of green smoke, the demigods went off to their usual activities, and the satyrs left for some other important meeting.

"Well, that wasn't short at all." An arm was thrown around her and Percy grinned at her. At that moment, her heart filled up with relief and happiness. She honestly had no idea how she'd survive without this adorable little idiot.

"Well done Sherlock. You uncovered the greatest mystery of all time." Annabeth joked, poking his cheek.

Percy pushed her hand away. "Aww, stop it." Annabeth laughed.

"So, should we get going?"

"I believe we should."

"Good. Race ya!" Annabeth took off running, stifling laughter as Percy yelled a complaint and bolted after her.

"Speed up, turtle boy!" Annabeth cackled. A sudden movement in the forest caught her eye, causing her to stop.

Staring back at her, was a dark, black figure. It didn't do much, just stared. Annabeth blinked, her hand moving for her sword when Percy barreled into her, causing them both to go sprawling.

"Oh gods I'm so sorry. You okay?" Percy questioned frantically. Annabeth looked back at the trees, noticing the silhouette was gone. She shook her head. Probably just a figment of her imagination. Or Nico. Yeah, probably just Nico.

"No? You aren't?"

Annabeth stood and brushed the dirt off her jeans. "I'm fine, Seaweed Brain. I was just thinking and I didn't even realize I stopped. Now get up and race me, unless you're too scared." She held her hand out.

Percy's worry seemed to vanish into thin air because a determined grin was suddenly plastered on his face. He took Annabeth's hand. "You wish, Chase."

He stood, before literally shouting, "THREE!" and went sprinting.

"Hey! Cheater!" Annabeth accused, but she was cracking up.

\-----

Annabeth didn't even realize the mysterious cloaked silhouette was still watching from a distance.

The demigods both looked interesting, and they could sense their auras from here. Very powerful too. They'd be very useful to their plan. They examined them closely.

A sneer crept up their face as they watched the two take off again. Once they were done, they'd be their own servants. For now, they were just pawns of their game.

_Run little demigods, there was nowhere to hide._


	3. Chapter 3

**N** **I** **C** **O**

"Nope. Not gonna happen."

"Come on!" Will pestered, getting impatient. "You aren't going into the forest alone. Especially when we have no idea what's going on over there. It's just crazy!"

Nico never thought he'd regret ever telling anyone about his plans. He just had to walk up to Will Solace out of all people and be like: _Hey_ _Will_ _,_ _I'm_ _gonna_ _go_ _venture_ _into_ _the_ _abandoned_ _forest_ _and_ _search_ _for_ _answers_ _about_ _the_ _absent_ _monsters_ _who_ _are_ _probably_ _creating_ _some_ _giant_ _monster_ _army_ _._ _Try_ _not_ _to_ _tell_ _anyone_ _,_ _K_ _?_

Now, an overprotective son of Apollo was going full out mama bear on his sorry ass.

Nico wondered when he became so downright stupid.

"I won't be entirely alone. The nymphs are always there."

"Still! I'm going with you and you can't stop me." Will insisted. "You still need to lay off the shadow magic. Got it? You're still healing and using it now would definitely not be good. Unless you want to loose another limb again."

Nico scowled, remembering the incident he tried shadow traveling and his whole left leg became just swirling black mist. It took a whole week for it to return to it's normal form. He never thought he'd hate crutches so damn much.

"I thought we'd never speak of that again." Nico grumbled, shooting Will a glare that would usually send mortals running. Will just stood there like his usual annoying, stubborn as hell self.

"Well, I was making a point," Will stated, standing straight, staring down at Nico. The clingy bastard was about four inches taller compared to him, aggravating Nico even more.

"You're still not coming with me, Solace."

"Who said you can stop me? I can still follow you." Will retorted.

"I'll block the Apollo cabin doors."

"There's these things, called windows."

"I'll block those too!" Nico said, his scowl deepening, his patience and small amount of sanity slowly snapping.

"I can still rat you out to Chiron."

"What are you, three? Besides, I have a skeleton army." Nico boasted, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the taller boy.

"I have a piercing whistle that can send even a few piles of bones insane." Will replied, with his stupid straight poker face.

Nico's eye twitched. They both had a stare down for a minute before either one of them moved. Nico pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply, resisting the urge to strangle the son of Apollo. "Fine, fine. You win. Just, don't tell anyone else."

Will smirked, victorious. "Whatever you say."

**\-----**

"What happened to not telling anyone else?" Nico hissed, gesturing towards Lou Ellen and Cecil.

The four demigods were crouched behind the Hades cabin, concealed in the shadows. LouEllen and Cecil watched as the two boys bickered in hushed voices.

"It was an accident! When I told them—totally not on purpose, by the way—they wouldn't stop asking me. So that's why they're here. Blame them, not me!"

"Guilty as charged." Cecil piped up, giving them both a cocky grin, earning dirty looks from both of the boys.

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose the millionth time today and muttered something in Italian, before taking a deep breath. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care anyway."

Lou Ellen squinted at him and patted his shoulder. "Chill, Neeks—"

"I am chill!"

"Okay, Nico, we'd love it if you could quit your PMSing." Cecil said, ignoring the death glare shot his way. "Let us just explore the dark, creepy forest, and do some hunting. Like the Winchesters."

Nico screamed internally, trying not to strangle the son of Hermes. He instead straightened his form. " _Di Immortales._ Fine. Let's just get this over with. But if we end up Harpy Lunch, it's your fault, Solace."

Will grumbled something under his breath and handed Lou Ellen the flashlights, which she proceeded to enchant. She handed them right back afterwards.

"Alright, this will probably last only about forty five minutes to an hour and a half, so we have to be fast," She informed, twirling her flashlight in her hands. "The light is only visible to demigods, so I honestly think we'll be fine."

Cecil kept flickering his on and off. "Well then? What are we waiting for? TO NARNIA—oof."

Lou Ellen had shoved him and frowned in disapproval as he stumbled and fell back. "Dude, are you trying to wake up the entire camp?"

"Sorry," He squeaked, holding his arm. "Won't bad. My happen again."

Nico was honestly wondering why he even told Will in the first place. He sent him another glance, silently stating _,_ _You're_ _all_ _dead_ _to_ _me_ _,_ before he started walking past, grumbling to himself.

As the four demigods walked, well, more like trudged through the darkened forest, lit only by the moonlight, they didn't seem to notice the silhouette trailing not far behind them, wielding a hidden object.  
 ****


	4. Chapter 4

**N** **I** **C** **O**

This wasn't Nico's idea of a fun trip.

Especially when he was stuck babysitting a bunch of oversized toddlers in the middle of the night.

Just let that sink in.

They've walked for about an hour now when Nico finally stopped, examining the dark forest, filled with nothing but trees and sleeping dryads. He huffed, "Unbelievable. There's literally nothing. Nothing at all."

Cecil frowned, shining the light at trees and walking over one nymph, drooling over the roots of her tree. "Maybe they finally decided waiting around for us for like, centuries was too much work?"

Nico could barely notice Will in the corner of his eye, gazing at him with a worried look and paled. Nico blinked at him in confusion.  _What's with him?_

"Maybe Cecil is right," Lou Ellen muttered, looking a bit conflicted. She adjusted her beanie a bit, covering her ears before her free hand was stuffed back in her jacket pocket. "maybe they just, left. Just like that."

Nico considered this. Even if their theory was correct, it just didn't seem right. There had to be some logical answer to this. Nico shook his head, realizing he sounded like an Athena kid. "It makes absolutely no sense. Why would they just suddenly vanish like that? And there isn't even a single sign or clue that could help us." Nico kicked a small rock in frustration.

"Maybe we could, you know, split up?" Cecil had a stupid grin on his face.

"Cecil. Shut up. Have you not seen any horror movies?" Will muttered, shining the light at him.

"Yeah, I have, obviously. Have you realized we're demigods and not some stupid mortals?" Cecil snarked.

"Both of you shut up, you're giving me a migraine." Nico grouched, trudging forward.

 _di_ _Angelo..._ He felt sudden nails digging into his face and did what any normal person would do:

He flipped the hell out.

Nico stopped abruptly and stumbled back, not even caring that the other three ran right into him. He scanned the spot where the thing would of been, if it was actually there.

"Ay!"

"Ow,"

"Nico, what the hell?" Will raised an eyebrow, looking ahead. "Why'd you-"

"Shh!" Nico hissed under his breath, his hand already gripping the hilt of his Stygian Iron sword. "Unless one of you are playing some joke on me, I think there's someone else here.

His companions gave him nothing but dazed looks. "Huh? Hear what?"

Thoughts scurried through Nico's mind. They didn't hear or see a thing. Nico relaxed a bit, realizing it could of been just a ghost.

"Hang on," Nico handed his sword to Cecil, ignoring the weirded out looks.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure you need that—" Cecil began, stopping when Nico took out two daggers. "Oh."

Nico grinned. "Reyna taught me a few tricks. Perfect time to try them out."

Cecil nodded, shutting up.

Nico began to make his way into the unknown, when Will suddenly grabbed his arm. "Hey, remember, no shadow magic." He stated, ignoring Nico's scoff.

"Be careful, you idiot," Will warned. He quickly added, "I don't have enough supplies to bandage you up everyday."

Nico looked at Will, dark brown eyes meeting blue ones. He glanced up, noticing the other two demigods and immediately pulled his arm away, flushing. "Yeah, I got it. Damn."

Lou Ellen and Cecil started snickering amongst each other. Nico made sure to get them back for it later.

He made his way into the shady forest, both daggers gripped tightly. The frosted grass crunching under his feet along with the quiet snaps of thin twigs. The moonlight illuminated the way, the shadows of the branches appearing like tattoos on the earth.

_di_ _Angelo..._

Nico freezed, eyes narrowing. He whirled around. "Quit messing around. I have no time for your stupid games. So unless you'd like to be banished back into The Underworld, I suggest you show yourself and getting lost." He commanded, power and authority in his tone.

No answer. Only the hooting owls and the squeaks of the bats flying overhead.

Nico made an annoyed growl. He didn't have time for pesky spirits. "You're making me count down, aren't you." He sighed, exasperated.

"Five, four, three, two—" Nico dragged on, expecting the stupid phantom to show up already.

"One."

He wasn't expecting to be grabbed from behind, or the sudden hand clamped over his mouth. He also wasn't predicting the sudden maniacal laughter.

"I've got him! I've got him!" Nico decided was a guy, shrieked, cackling in delight.

Nico was snapped out of his shock, shouting curses and tried stabbing the person. The daggers were yanked out of his grasp by some invisible force, skidding away from his reach.

"How does it feel, all powerful di Angelo," The person hissed, his warm breath sending shudders down his spine. "To be defeated? Huh?"

As an answer, Nico bit the douchebag's hand.

The guy pulled away, yelling. Nico spun around, aiming a punch at his nose. Nico's fist met nothing but air. He blinked, confused. _What_ _the_ _hell_ _?_

 _"_ _Nico_ _!"_ A sudden force slammed right into him, sending them both sprawling. Once his vision cleared, he grabbed the nearest thing: a twig, and whacked the person in the face.

"Ow! Nico, it's me! Will." Will was clutching his nose with one hand and the other one was on his arm, trying to stop the blood flowing from a wound. Will must of been cut by the guy when he tackled Nico.

"Sorry, sorry," He mumbled, looking frantically around for his attacker. Lou Ellen and Cecil stood in front of him. Lou Ellen equipped with her magic spheres, and Cecil with Nico's sword, too lazy to use his own.

"What was that?" Nico demanded. "No, _who_ was that?"

"You think we know? We just heard laughing and muffled yelling." Lou Ellen defended, still searching for the cloaked figure.

There was a sudden yelp behind them, and the sound of Nico's Stygian Iron sword dropping to the earth, as Cecil vanished from view, a black cloaked figure disappearing with him.  
 ****


	5. Chapter 5

**N I C O**

_"Cecil!"_ Lou Ellen had yelled for probably the hundredth time now at the Iris Message, which for some reason only appeared black, before disappearing immediately.

They'd been calling for a while now, hoping for some trace of Cecil or the cloaked figure. They used about, maybe three water bottles and fifteen drachmas.

"Lou Ellen , he's not here, or anywhere," Will murmured, slumped against a tree. He seemed exhausted, which was something Nico didn't see much of Will. Now that Nico paid more attention, he could tell Will was mostly active and usually fully awake. It was strange seeing him like this. Will had torn off a bit of his sleeve, tying it around the small wound. "We gotta report it or—"

"No,"  snapped, sending Will a cold glare. "who knows what would've happened to him by then." She turned to Nico. "Do something, can't you shadow travel to them or do your shadow magic thing? Isn't that how that psycho got away in the first place?"

 _Shado_ _w magic._ This confused Nico very much. First thing the typical person who knew about Mythology would probably just blame it on Hades, since apparently he had a thing for kidnapping people.

He was pretty sure his dad wasn't that creepy. He wouldn't abduct some innocent demigod all of a sudden.

Besides, he was pretty sure the guy was after _him,_ so then why'd he snatch Cecil?

Lou Ellen paced, fiddling with the small magic orbs in her hands. She threw one in frustration at a tree, where a small spider sat. The spider was suddenly transformed into a very confused goose in a blast of purple smoke.

"I don't care how long it takes. We have to find him. He was my first friend here..." Lou seemed to drift off, her harsh tone fading into sadness.

Nico remembered what Cecil had told them about meeting Lou. She was unclaimed at the time they met, talking in hushed whispers to avoid disturbing the sleeping kids all night. Since then, they've been best friends.

He could understand her desperately wanting to find him, he really did. He still remembered the deal with Minos, the Labyrinth, and all that crazy stuff he did just to find someway to contact Bianca, his older, now deceased sister.

Nico didn't want anyone going through something like that.

"But, what if he's already dead?" Will mumbled doubtfully, mostly to himself. 

Lou Ellen had shot him another glare. "What happened to being positive, huh?"

Nico shook his head. "If so, I would've known by now. Besides, he's Cecil. He probably has some twisted tricks up his sleeve. Cloak dude wouldn't stand a chance."

Lou Ellen seemed to relax only a little bit, but before she could open her mouth, Will interrupted with: "Uh guys, my blood is black."

"What?" Lou Ellen and Nico both turned to face The son of Apollo, giving him confused looks.

"No, I'm like, one hundred percent serious." Will examined the wound on his arm, which now looked more serious than Nico thought at first. The dried blood wasn't a reddish brown, but full out black. Dark purple marks surrounded the slash, kind of like bruises. Yet not quite.

Lou Ellen raised her eyebrows. "What in the Hades?"

Will looked a little uncertain, but he shrugged it off. "It's just some poisoning. A few tricks, nectar and ambrosia and it'll be fine."

Nico nodded slowly. Sure, Will was the best medic he knew, but there still was this strange sinking feeling in his gut and a small amount of doubt.

Lou Ellen sat up. "Come on, we gotta go back." She trudged off, avoiding the still resting nymphs and making her way towards the camp.

**\-----**

Nico didn't enjoy kitchen duty. Not a single bit. He _almost_ preferred being eaten by Harpies instead of washing dishes with freaking lava.

Almost.

It was just him and Lou Ellen, since for some reason once Chiron saw the marks on Will's arm, he did a double take and immediately sent him to the infirmary without another word.

He tried thinking about other things. The teams for Capture The Flag, when to contact Hazel, or anything else that would keep him busy, but his thoughts always wandered back to what happened in the forest.

Nico shook his head, grumbling to himself. The image of Cecil vanishing was still stuck in his head. The fact that it had been so simple for the figure to just grab him and disappear in a blink of an eye sickened him. They couldn't even do anything.

What was the guy anyway? Some god, maybe? Or some rare shadow nymph. Maybe some other demigod. He didn't know. All he knew was that whatever he was, he was _fast._

Nico was so deep in thought he nearly had a heart attack when Leo yelled, "Aye! di Angelo! Come on cupcake you can do it! Defeat the evil dishes!"

Nico scowled at him, flipping off a not so nice finger gesture while Leo just laughed hysterically and Calypso gave him an apologetic smile.

"You may be fireproof, Valdez, but I can assure you that you aren't invincible." Nico warned.

"I once was." Percy responded, walking over and handing Nico his empty plate.

"Yeah, but no one asked you, jackass." Nico retorted. He may of told Percy what he thought of him, but he still wasn't completely over him. It was a long, annoyingly slow process.

Percy grinned proudly. Before he even had the chance to say something, a scream tore through the air. Lou Ellen dropped the plate she was cleaning, not even caring when it smashed into a hundred pieces. Demigods and satyrs alike stood, ready for a fight.

They weren't expecting every nymph on sight to drop like stones, collapsing to the floor unconscious.

"What the-?" Connor Stoll yelped when a dryad crumpled to the floor in front of him.

Percy had ran off to where Annabeth, Grover and Juniper sat. Grover was currently freaking out, trying to get his girlfriend to wake up.

"June? June!" Grover lightly shook her limp form. She just slumped in his arms, unmoving and stiff.

Nico caught Percy and Annabeth exchanging confused glances, and he could've swore he could see the gears working in Annabeth's head.

His attention turned to Leo and Calypso, who were currently by Piper. She was comforting the girl who had screamed, who was now crying.

"S-she just fell," The girl hiccupped, wiping her eyes. "She was perfectly f-fine before, I-I don't know what happened."

"Hey, she'll be fine, don't worry," Piper was subtlety pouring in a bit of charmspeak into her words to calm the shaken girl.

It was complete chaos. Some of the younger kids looked like they were going to cry, rummaging for bags of ambrosia and nectar only to remember it was useless in this situation. The Apollo kids were currently rushing to any nymph they could find with their little aid kits and Nico couldn't help but scowl at himself for wondering about Will during this. After all, he was their best healer.

A sudden movement yards away caught Nico's attention. He could of swore he saw something in the distance, watching from the trees, before quickly turning and charging back into the forest.

A _cloaked_ something.


	6. Chapter 6

**P** **E** **R** **C** **Y**

"Alright," Percy watched as the sword in his hand went back to a pen, before turning back to the younger demigods. "Everyone got it?"

Most of them nodded, yelling out "yes". Few just stared at him, still confused about the whole demigod stuff in general. Percy still remembered his first quest, finding out Grover was actually a goat, meeting Annabeth, all that crazy stuff. He found himself fiddling with his beaded necklace, a small smile creeping up his face.

Ah, the nostalgia.

Percy grinned at the young demigods. "Great job you guys. Now, go ahead and destroy the dummies."

He had to suppress a laugh when the kids got to their feet, charging off to different parts of the Arena shouting battle cries.

Percy walked over to Mrs. O'Leary and Grover, who had been there watching as he taught the kids. Her tail thumped against the floor excitedly as some of the kids came near. Grover handed him a sandwich as he sat down beside them.

"Where's the real Percy Jackson and what have you done with him?" Grover demanded jokingly.

Percy snorted. "Surprise, I'm not Percy Jackson. I'm Peter Johnson, his evil twin brother."

They snickered for a bit, Mrs. O'Leary barking along, shaking the Arena once more. Grover shook his head, muttering while Percy chuckled. "I'll never get used to that."

They sat in silence for a while, Percy munching on the sandwich while Grover casually ate his Coca Cola can. Percy couldn't help but randomly blurt, "Hey, is Juniper doing okay?"

Grover was uncharacteristically quiet for about a minute or two, before finally setting the can down. He sighed, "She's still in a coma-like trance. That's what the Hypnos cabin believe. Same with the other nymphs. Apparently it could be the work of Morpheus, but they don't know yet."

Percy nodded, patting Grover's shoulder to try comforting him. He didn't bother saying stuff like, "oh, it'll be okay," or "she'll totally wake up in like two weeks or something I dunno dude"

"Percy?" He glanced up to see one of the Dionysus girls, Irene, he believed, staring down at him. She looked a bit uncomfortable, standing awkwardly and swaying back and forth. "I, uh, I don't get it. The whole 'certain way to hold your weapon' or whatever"

Percy quickly fed the rest of his sandwich to Mrs. O'Leary—who basically gobbled it up in less than a second—and got to his feet. He wiped his hands on his jeans before walking over to the younger girl.

"Uh, alright, take a swing at the dummy, like you usually would." Percy gestured to the nearest torn up dummy, who looked pretty dead.

Irene raised an eyebrow at the son of Poseidon, probably in a _"_ _how_ _in_ _Hades_ _did_ _you_ _save_ _Olympus_ _"_ way, but she still trudged over to the dummy and stared at it, before lifting the sword in her hand. Percy wasn't expecting her to lunge angrily at it, slashing it's knees and attempting to stab it in the face. The sword was probably too heavy for her, since she only managed to jab it in the shoulder. It was a while before she was done, panting heavily and glaring at the dummy.

"Ah, shut up." She growled at it. The dummy said nothing back.

"First of all, you're trying way too hard." Percy piped up behind her. He could have swore he heard a little growl from her, but he ignored it. He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

Percy continued talking. "Well, I don't mean you're doing it wrong. What I do mean is that since you're a beginner, starting off with just one hand is a little difficult, so don't go so hard on yourself for not getting it the first try. Plus, if you use both hands you'll have more force and speed."

The fourteen year old girl stared at him, curiosity glistening in her hazel eyes. Her free hand crept onto the hilt, gripping it tightly along with the occupied one.

From the corner of his eye he could see Katie Gardner from the Demeter Cabin whispering to Grover, who paled noticeably. Percy felt a ping of curiosity, but he waved it off as a usual nature problem. Nothing concerning him.

He turned around, fully facing the daughter of the wine god. "And you'll probably need a different sword while you're at it. You wouldn't want to drag it to battle. What you need is one that's not too heavy, yet not to light. Got it?"

Irene nodded, about to say something when Grover rushed over and grabbed Percy by the arm. "Hey, can I borrow him for a second?" He didn't even wait for Irene's answer before dragging him away.

Scratch that, this probably concerned him.

"Ow. Did she offer you free enchiladas or something?" Percy muttered, trying to lighten the mood. Grover shushed him instead. Now he could definitely tell this was serious by the solemn looks on both of their faces. (And the fact Grover didn't even bat a single eye at the mention of enchiladas.) Percy pulled himself together. No time for jokes. Not now.

Grover gestured at the Big House with his reed pipes. "We have a bit of a problem. The rest of the counselors are already at The Big House waiting for us and a few others."

"Wait, what's the problem? Is it something really serious?" Percy asked uneasily, stuffing his hands in his sweatshirt pockets.

"You tell me if another missing demigod is serious," Katie stepped forward, holding up a beaded necklace and dropping it into his hand. "Miranda's gone. According to one of my siblings, a few of my cabin mates were getting some herbs from Rachel's cave, Miranda wandered off from the group, and this was all they found of her."

Percy frowned. Everything seemed to be slowly spiraling out of control. Monsters gone, two demigods missing and every nymph on sight in a comatose state. Percy couldn't help the tiny panic settling in his gut. Could it be some other obnoxious god, trying to ruin their lives again? Because if it was, Percy wanted to find them and punch them repeatedly in the face.

Sure, he'd probably be reduced to ashes for it, but it was still probably worth it.

"Not only that," Katie continued, fidgeting with a dagger in her hands, "apparently a centurion from Camp Jupiter and a hunter of Artemis also went missing a while ago. It may be connected to these disappearances."

That panic that settled down in Percy's stomach climbed up his throat. He prayed it wasn't Hazel or any other one of his friends.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go already." The three of them started making their way to the Big House, when Irene yelled out suddenly.

"Hey, you'll teach me more later, right?" She asked, looking a little disappointed that the lesson was cut short. Percy gave her a quick apologetic smile.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Percy called back, giving her a thumbs up before turning back and running to catch up with Katie and Grover.

**\-----**

"Dakota was his name, right?" Annabeth asked, jotting down the names on a sheet of paper.

"Yep." Hazel stated from the IM. "Dakota and..." She glanced back at Reyna, who was pacing behind her. "What was the name of the huntress again?"

"Olivia." Both Reyna and Thalia answered. Thalia appeared to be in one of the huntress tents, while the praetor of Camp Jupiter still paced back and forth, muttering under her breath.

Once again, the cabin counselors sat together in the Big House, currently chilling in the Infirmary since Will Solace still couldn't leave and apparently had important information.

Will Solace looked like crap. That was all Percy had to say. His blonde hair stuck up in random directions, like a birds nest. He had dark bags under his eyes, which made him look surprisingly almost like Nico. What caught Percy's attention the most was the dark purple mark stained on his skin, which was nothing Percy had ever seen in his whole strange life.

It was a bit unsettling to see Will like this. Percy guessed Will could tell he was a little nervous, since the son of Apollo gave him a tired smile, as if saying: _hey_ _,_ _I_ _feel_ _like_ _crap_ _but_ _I'm_ _still_ _kickin._ _Don't_ _worry_ _'_ _bout_ _it_ _._

Clearly Nico was worried more than Percy or any of them were. He was sitting beside the son of Apollo, examining the mark with narrowed eyes. Will had to complain about Nico bruising his arm to get him to let go.

"Alright, I got it." Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, just as she finished writing down the last letter. "We clearly need to make a plan, since this is becoming an issue."

"Unfortunately, we'd love to chat some more, but we have a really tight schedule, Beth." Reyna stated, walking over to stand by Hazel. "I'll IM you as soon as possible. A problem like this shouldn't be put aside just like that."

Reyna was just about to swipe through the IM when Nico called out, "You two be careful, okay? Promise me."

A small smile was plastered on Reyna's face, and Hazel winked at Nico. "You too, big brother." With a swipe of her hand, the IM had dissolved.

"I gotta go too." Thalia stated. "Stay safe, weirdos. And don't get knocked out, Jace." Her IM also vanished before Jason could complain at her or anyone could say another word. The Stolls were currently trying to cover their snickers with coughs. Clarisse didn't even bother hiding her snort.

"Alright. We gotta establish some rules," Annabeth stood, setting the clipboard to the side. "No one can go out of the borders alone. No exceptions."

Piper also stood, looking confident like always. "What she means is, that we can't afford to lose anymore people to a force we know basically nothing about. Keep an eye on all cabin members at all times. Will, I'll make sure to put Austin and Kayla in charge for you. Everyone got it? And no cruel,  scarring, or humiliating punishments."

Clarisse sighed. "Dammit."

"Then let's declare this counselor meeting finished. We'll send out a search party in the morning, so get some rest." Annabeth stated, closing her notebook.

**\-----**

The demigods headed off to their own cabins, getting ready to sleep for the big day tomorrow.

He was honestly surprised none of them noticed him peeking from the window the whole time. He was getting better and controlling The Mist than he thought.

He found himself wandering around his old "home", where many awful memories resurfaced. He would kill to see this place in flames. Same with that Roman camp he'd heard so much of.

The boy's gut tightened with disgust and anger when he found himself at the door of the Poseidon cabin. He glanced at the doorknob, grinning when a little click was heard. Quietly, he made his way into the cabin.

He felt a wave of many emotions, walking into the cabin. Anger, revenge, victory, even a little giddy. After all these years, karma was finally on his side.

He stared at the son of Poseidon. The seventeen year old boy was completely vulnerable. He could literally stab him in the eye right now, maybe watch as he squirmed and screamed for mercy.

But no, he had to stick to the stupid plan. The apparent plant to success.

The boy growled lowly, hating himself for giving this opportunity up just like that, but if he stuck with the plan, everything would be perfect.

He didn't really believe it could get any better than stabbing Percy Jackson in the eye.

The boy stood there for a while, watching the resting demigod. He had to replay those words in his head to get rid of the urge to just go crazy. He couldn't help but regret the moment he walked out the door, no blood whatsoever on his blade.

 _Stick to the plan, and trust me, you'll get the sweetest_ _revenge_ _even_ _Nemesis_ _couldn't_ _even_ _dream_ _of_ _._


	7. Chapter 7

**P E R C Y**

Percy felt like a bird at the moment.

But not like a graceful bird, no. More like a weird, awkward flamingo hanging from the tree branches.

Yes, he was aware that flamingos don't belong on trees.

"I don't like this," He mumbled, staring down at the ground, which looked about maybe one hundred feet or more below him. He leaned back against the tree, pale and trying not to vomit. It was different when was on a pegasus. He felt an actual sense of security and safety. Up here, alone with no one but Jason? Not so much. Even if he could fly.

Jason just laughed at him. "It's not that big of a deal—"

"Oh sure, not so big of a deal. Easy for you to say!" Percy snapped defensively.

The two of them were currently perched on one of the highest trees. The cabin counselors and a few other trusty campers were scouting the forests, watching for anything suspicious, like the cloaked figures that Annabeth had claimed to see, whereas Nico, Lou, and Will had actually encountered. He and Jason were put on look out, while the others ventured around on the forest floor. Snow was lightly falling, so Percy was hoping he wouldn't slip of the tree and fall on his face.

Jason wiped his glasses off the third time in about five minutes, cursing the snow under his breath. He peered through the binoculars, looking out for any of those cloaked creeps everyone was talking about.

"I swear, I wouldn't be considered so stupid if people knew why I never did anything." Percy grumbled quietly, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm. "'Oh Percy, quit being so lazy and finish your homework, oh Percy, you little crap, pay closer attention, blah blah blah.'"

"Ha, I don't go to school." Jason snorted, still looking around. He suddenly stopped. "Hold up, shut up for a second."

Percy froze, blinking in confusion. "What? Do you see anything? What is it?"

"Wait, no, I was wrong. Just Nico over there." Jason gave Nico's group a friendly wave. Percy could tell from way up here that the son of Hades wasn't having it. He was pretty sure he had heard Nico's aggravated groan.

Percy huffed, sitting back. "What a shocking surprise. I didn't think Nico, out of all people, would be wearing black. Oh my gods what is this world we live in?"

Jason set down the binoculars, watching Percy with a calculating look. He looked a bit concerned. "You're usually not this negative."

"Oh, trust me I am. I'm just usually lowkey about it. I don't really care at the moment."

Jason's eyes narrowed. "Spill it, Jackson."

Percy groaned in annoyance, rubbing his eyes. "Dude, I swear you're like a mom. It was just some stupid dream, I'm perfectly fine."

Percy wouldn't admit it, but he wasn't really fine. For some reason he couldn't help but feel paranoid, like something was watching him. Sure, he knew he could probably take it on, but it still made him uncomfortable.

Jason didn't look convinced, but he slowly turned away. "Whatever you say."

Percy shuddered, trying to shake off the unpleasant feeling of something or someone breathing down his neck. He occasionally looked around, watching carefully for anything Jason couldn't see.

_"Yo. Supersized Mcshizzle reporting for business."_ Leo's voice came through the walkie talkie in Percy's hand. "No creepy stalkers on sight. Any luck?" (According to Leo, apparently walkie talkies were cooler and seemed more mission worthy, but they sure worked better than constant Iris Messaging.)

_"I haven't seen a thing."_ This time Deanna of the Nike cabin spoke up.

_"The most interesting thing I've seen so far was a deer."_ Piper stated.

_"It reminds me of you sis; ugly, brown, and common."_ Drew's bored tone could be heard in the background.

_"Boi."_ Leo said.

"I could probably wipe ninety percent of your "beauty" off with a wet rag. Next time, try eating makeup. Maybe you'll be pretty on the inside." Annabeth's annoyed voice rang through the walkie talkie, and Percy couldn't help but laugh when everyone was gasping and laughing at Drew.

_"Oooh, get rekt!"_ Connor snorted.

_"Shots fired!"_ Travis howled.

_"You're both dumb."_ Drew snapped.

"Shh!" Jason hissed, suddenly close to the walkie talkie. "They're here."

"What?" Percy's head whipped around, alarmed. He took the binoculars from Jason and peered into them.

Right at Zeus's Fist, three of them stood. The sun gave their cloaks an obsidian color. Their faces were hidden, but they seemed as if they were having a conversation.

Percy gritted his teeth. So they were the reason for two missing campers, Dakota, that hunter, and maybe even the nymphs.

Percy glanced back at Jason, who was now holding the walkie talkie. "Zeus's Fist." He whispered. He looked back into the binoculars and he made a sharp gasp.

One of the cloaked figures was staring in his direction, watching quietly. They both stared for what felt like eternity to Percy, before the figure brought up his hand, and made a slicing gesture across his throat.

Percy yelped, feeling a sudden sharp pain against his own throat. He was surprised to find the dark, warm blood, slowly trickling down his neck. His hands immediately flew to his throat. Percy's eyes went wide. How'd they do that from way over there?

"What the? Percy!" Jason also looked surprised.

Percy shook his head, still a bit shaken. "It's not as bad as it looks." He managed. Percy looked back at Zeus's Fist, where the figures had stood. His gaze flickered to the three black shapes, running through the forest, already yards away.

_Damn, they were fast._

"They're getting away!" Jason grabbed Percy by the arm, and before he knew it both of them hit the forest floor. Percy broke out into a sprint, completely forgetting about the others and trying to catch up. He only had one goal: catching them. He sure as hell wasn't going to let those bastards get away.

Nope. Not going to happen on his watch.

The three of them had divided, splitting up and all running in different directions. Their feet pounded against the floor, the snow crunching and slushing underneath them. Percy sped up, no matter how much his own lungs ached. He was gaining on one, so he did probably the dumbest thing ever.

Percy immediately sprang into action. He lunged, flinging himself at the nearest one with a battle cry. The person—most likely a guy—swore loudly as the son of Poseidon tackled him to the ground.

Both of them went tumbling, the other guy screaming insults while Percy hung onto his arm, also screaming.

This took a while before the cloaked boy took control, jabbing his knee into Percy's chest and raising a golden knife with some dark purple on the tip in one hand, while the other had a fistful of his hair.

Percy didn't have to see the guys face to know it was twisted with disgust. "Percy Jackson. What an honor." The guy spoke, his voice laced with heavy sarcasm.

Percy managed a taunting grin. "The one and only."

The guy snorted, harshly pulling Percy's head back to examine the wound on his neck. He smirked triumphantly. "My, the girl sure knows what she's doing. Hey Jackson, how ya feeling?"

Percy ignored the spreading pain in his scalp the best he could and spat in the guy's face.

The cloaked man jerked back, growling. His grip had loosened. "You little—!"

"Think fast." Percy used that time to his advantage. He sat up abruptly, head butting the guy.

The guy stumbled back, dropping the knife. Percy took control, grabbing it from the snow and attacking the cloaked figure once again He wrestled with the flailing guy, trying to pull the hood off his head.

"Where are they, you son of a bitch?" Percy demanded, still attempting to pull off the hood. "Where are they?"

The guy put his hand on Percy's face, trying to push him away. "I think you should die already." He snarled.

"And I think you should get your head out of your ass and answer the damn question. But I guess we don't all get what we want." Percy snapped, flinging the knife to the side and taking out Riptide, which was still in pen form. Percy noticed the guy's head slightly tilt to the side, as if he noticed something behind him.

"Oh trust me, I always get what I want." The guy chuckled, suddenly deadly calm.

Percy was just about to pull the cap off when he felt a something grab him by the arm and had no time to react when he was yanked back. Riptide fell from his grasp, landing into the snow. He swore, thrashing and flailing, trying to hit whoever held him. He didn't have to see them to know it was the other two creeps, aiding their stupid friend.

The biggest one had an iron grip on Percy's arm, not even phased by his struggling, he just grabbed Percy's other arm and pinned them behind his back. He seemed unimpressed by him, and even almost bored. "So, this is the guy Augustus hates so much?"

"Yeah, thats him. The known Son of Poseidon. Geez, you guys take forever." The guy got to his feet, wiping the snow off his cloak. He glared coldly at Percy, who glared back.

The smallest one, the one who had inflicted the wound on Percy's neck knelt, picking the gold knife from the snow. The dark purple wasn't apart of the blade, for it had stained the snow dark purple.

The same dark purple that the marks on Will Solace were.

"Here, you dropped this." From what he could tell, the girl stated, handing it to the other guy, who chuckled. He probably was smirking under the hood, which aggravated Percy more.

"Why thank you." He took the knife from her grasp, wiping it with his sleeve, which was, surprise, also black like his cloak.

"It must suck, you know." The boy sighed, all dramatic. He walked towards Percy, tapping the knife in a taunting manner. "Being the son of Poseidon and all, there isn't much water here, now is there? Sadly, you cannot melt snow, can you?"

Percy's eyes narrowed. He had been practicing on that for weeks now. Trying to freeze and boil water, but it wasn't really working out for him.

He really, really hated this cowardly, stalking jerk.

Without a warning, he lunged, stabbing Percy in the shoulder and dragged it harshly across his chest. Percy yelled out in pain, biting down on his tongue afterwards. The other guy seemed to enjoy it, and laughed when the son of Poseidon's blood splattered on him and onto the snow, staining parts of it red.

"Hmm. August sure will be proud." The boy mused, chuckling to himself. He raised the knife again, positioning it over the other shoulder, and brought it down.

Well, he wasn't on time. He was interrupted by those damn demigods.

"This is Sparta!" Connor Stoll had came charging out of the woods, flinging himself right on the cloaked dude's back and wrapping his arms and legs around him.

The cloaked figure growled in annoyance, stumbling around and trying to get the son of Hermes off while Connor screamed his head off and whacked the person on the head with his bat, causing him to drop the knife.

"You will sleep now." A sweet song voice whispered. A strong urge came over Percy, and all he wanted to do was curl into the snow and sleep.

The guy holding Percy suddenly grunted, dropping him into the snow and stumbled, face planting into the snow. A celestial bronze dagger was currently lodged in his back, shining when the sun hit it. 

_Katopris._

Piper stood over him, looking at him with her kaleidoscope eyes and a grin. They now looked blue, with specks of brown.

"What happened to no reckless decisions, huh Seaweed Brain?" She stated, impersonating Annabeth the best she could.

Percy managed a tired smile. "Sorry?"

Piper rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. Her gaze landed on his chest and her eyes widened. "That... That isn't normal."

Percy didn't get the chance to hear what else she was going to say. Drew's bloodcurdling scream tore through the air. Piper paled, staring behind him

She made a choking noise and stumbled back. Percy spun around, and his own eyes widened at the sick sight.

A sword was sticking right out of Drew's gut, blood staining her once beautiful clothes and her pretty face was twisted up in pain, her eyes were widening with horror. The girl who had done it was still gripping the hilt tightly.

"Oops. I didn't see you there." She whispered to the daughter of Aphrodite, before yanking it out, not flinching a single bit when the blood sprayed all over her. She watched, bored, as Drew Tanaka slumped like a ragdoll, unmoving.

"You sick—" Piper started, but the girl started laughing.

"You should be thanking me, Pipes. Everyone hated her anyway. I have done you a favor." The girl sneered.

"Damn you!" Connor shouted from where he was, still on the other guy's back. He switched weapons, the bat morphing into a pistol, pointing it at the girl.

"Get off!" The boy screamed, grabbing Connor with both hands by the shirt and flipping him over. The gun skittered out of Connor's hand, and he didn't have anytime to reach it when the cloaked figure grabbed his dagger, stabbing it between Connor's collarbones and ignored his piercing screams.

"Connor!" Travis's voice rang through the air, yards away.

The boy yanked the dagger out, pointing it at Percy. "Remember, Jackson." He warned, voice deadly calm. "You brought this upon them. It's your fault. And you'll pay the price."

He flicked his hand, vanishing into a wave of black smoke. Both the girl and the unconscious guy also disappeared, leaving behind the chaos they have caused.

Piper sprang into action. "Percy, hand me ambrosia squares. Do you have any bandages, or anything like that? Percy?"

Percy didn't notice, he kept staring at the two wounded. Drew, face down in the snow. Connor, staring at the sky with struggling breaths. The metallic smell of blood burned his nose, and he couldn't think straight. He didn't know what was happening, he could've easily stood the amount of blood before, but there was just something that seemed off. The son of Poseidon staggered, and he suddenly found himself struggling for breath.

"I..." Percy cleared his throat, blinking multiple times. He stumbled again, nearly tripping over his own foot.

"Percy! Snap out of it!" Piper's voice sounded so far and slurred, he was pretty sure she was by him a minute ago. Or was it all in his head, and she was never there?

Percy could have sworn the world was spinning, and everything had blurred into white and red. He suddenly remembered the dark purple liquid that had covered the tip of the dagger when it was plunged into his shoulder.

_Poison._

_He had been poisoned._

Percy was pretty sure he going to be sick.

"Percy! Stay with me, dammit! Someone, get help! Get Kayla or Austin! Quick!" Piper's voice sounded more distant than before.

A sudden gut wrenching pain erupted where he was injured, and he cried out, hugging his stomach. He fell to his knees, shaking and coughing. It was already in his system.

He probably wouldn't make it.

_"Percy!"_

He didn't have the energy to feel surprised when the ground rushed towards him, and everything went pitch black.


	8. Chapter 8

**P** **E** **R** **C** **Y**

_Peace._

_So much peace._

_Percy lazily opened his eyes, staring up at the surface of the water. The sun beamed down, warming the water up. He closed his eyes again, letting himself go with the flow._

_Literally._

_The current was soothing and gentle, From what he could tell, there was nothing else there. Just him. He was relaxed and alone. No one and nothing to bother him. It couldn't get any better than this._

_The slow change in the pace didn't bug Percy, nor did the fact that the sun was now gone, concealed with a blanket of dark clouds._

_What did bug him- no, startled him - was when he opened his eyes, the water went from baby blue, to_ _a_ _disturbing_ _dark purple._

_Percy's_ _eyes_ _widened_ _. Alarm coursed_ _through_ _his_ _veins_ _,_ _all_ _relaxation_ _sinking,_ _like_ _it_ _was_ _never_ _there_ _._

_Percy_ _had_ _decided_ _it_ _was_ _probably_ _a_ _smart_ _decisions_ _if_ _he_ _got_ _out_ _of_ _the_ _water_ _._ _He_ _swam_ _towards_ _the_ _surface_ _,_ _which_ _now_ _seemed_ _so_ _far_ _._ _Whispers_ _came_ _from_ _beneath_ _him_ _,_ _and_ _he_ _made_ _a_ _quick_ _glance_ _to_ _see_ _what_ _was_ _below_ _._

_Horrible_ _decision_ _._

_A_ _swirling_ _,_ _dark_ _abyss_ _was_ _all_ _there_ _was_ _._ _Shrieks_ _and_ _wails_ _echoed_ _from_ _there_ _,_ _and_ _Percy_ _had_ _only_ _one_ _place_ _he_ _could_ _think_ _of_ _, a_ _place_ _he_ _couldn't_ _forget:_ Tartarus.

_Mild_ _alarm_ _was_ _quickly_ _turning_ _into_ _severe_ _panic_ _._

_"_ _No_ _,_ _no_ _,_ _no_ _,_ _nonononono—_ _"_ _Percy_ _swam_ _to_ _the_ _surface_ _as_ _fast_ _as_ _he_ _could_ _._ _The_ _water_ _itself_ _was_ _turning_ _toxic_ _,_ _weakening_ _him_ _with_ _every_ _breath_ _._ _Percy_ _resorted_ _to_ _holding_ _his_ _breath_ _._

_The_ _closer_ _he_ _got_ _to_ _the_ _surface_ _,_ _the_ _larger_ _the_ _abyss_ _grew,_ _and_ _the_ _louder_ _the_ _shrill_ _shrieks_ _became._

_Only a_ _few_ _more_ _inches,_ _he_ _was_ _almost_ _there_ _._ _To_ _safety_ _._

_Hope_ _fluttered_ _in_ _Percy's_ _chest_ _._ _He_ _was_ _going_ _to_ _make_ _it_ _._

_His_ _fingers_ _barely_ _broke_ _through_ _the_ _surface_ _when_ _he_ _was_ _suddenly_ _yanked_ _down_ _by_ _his_ _ankle_ _. He_ _looked_ _down_ _, now noticing_ _the_ _dark_ _purple_ _chain_ _wrapped_ _around_ _his_ _ankle_ _,_ _leading_ _all_ _the_ _way_ _down_ _to_ _the_ _dark_ _pit_ _._

_No_ _._

_**No** _ _**.** _

_Percy_ _lunged_ _for_ _the_ _surface,_ _only_ _to_ _be_ _pulled_ _down_ _again_ _._ _The_ _darkness_ _was_ _getting_ _closer_ _,_ _the_ _screaming_ _louder_ _._

_Percy_ _desperately_ _yanked_ _at_ _the_ _chain_ _on_ _his_ _ankle_ _,_ _hoping_ _it_ _would_ _at_ _least_ _be_ _loose_ _._ _But_ _it_ _was_ _rooted_ _to_ _it's_ _spot_ _._

_He_ _couldn't_ _scream_ _for_ _help._ _He'd_ _suffocate_ _in_ _the_ _darkness_ _._ _Freedom_ _was_ _so_ _close_ _,_ _yet_ _he_ _couldn't_ _reach_ _it_ _._ _It_ _was_ _literally_ _at_ _his_ _fingertips_ _._ _His_ _heart_ _pounded_ _against_ _his_ _chest_ _and_ _blood_ _roared_ _in_ _his_ _ears_ _._ _The_ _darkness_ _seemed_ _to_ _be_ _closing_ _in_ _on_ _him_ _, his_ _claustrophobia_ _intensifying_ _by_ _the_ _second_ _._

_Something_ _had_ _latched_ _onto_ _his_ _other_ _leg,_ _trying_ _to_ _pull_ _him_ _down_ _._ _It_ _screeched_ _at_ _him_ _,_ _clawing_ _at_ _his_ _skin_ _._

_Percy_ _panicked_ _,_ _kicking_ _at_ _whatever_ _held_ _him_ _,_ _trying_ _to_ _escape_ _._ _He_ _stole_ _a_ _quick_ _glance_ _and_ _nearly_ _had_ _a_ _heart_ _attack_ _._

_He_ _couldn't_ _force_ _down_ _the_ _guttural_ _scream that tore itself from his_ _throat_ _as_ _he_ _was_ _dragged_ _down_ _into_ _the_ _darkness_ _._

"Percy!" A guy's voice snapped at him, and he felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him. "Wake up!"

Percy honestly still had no idea what was real or not real. Everything was still blurry. All he could notice was the blonde hair, blue eyes, and a scar.

Percy couldn't help but panic. So he shrieked and he punched the guy in the face.

Jason Grace stumbled back, falling on his butt and holding his bloody nose. His glasses lay on the floor, twisted and broken. "Those were my favorite pair." He mumbled.

Percy blinked multiple times, and he grimaced when his vision focused on Jason, who was not who he originally thought he was.

"Um, oops." That was the only thing that came out of Percy's mouth.

Jason shrugged it off. "It's fine, dreams can be pretty terrifying."

"I guess you could say he had an... ungraceful fall." Connor Stoll snickered from the cot beside him, before he went into a coughing fit.

With a jolt, Percy realized he was in the infirmary. He glanced at Connor, who looked alive to him. His brown curls were sticking to one side, like a wave. Somehow, the mischievous look on his face never disappeared, even when he was literally stabbed in between the collarbones.

The wound was gone, but what remained was the dark purple mark on his neck.

"Welcome back to the real world, sleeping not-so-beauty." Percy turned his head to see Drew Tanaka, lying on the other cot and glaring at the ceiling. There were dark bags under her eyes and her silky black hair was splayed out over her pillow. She looked awful, kind of like a sewer rat. Percy couldn't help but feel a little bad.

Drew turned her head, sending a glare. "Quit staring Jackson. And I suggest getting rid of the drool on your face. It's unattractive."

Percy flushed in embarrassment, his self consciousness kicking in. He quickly wiped the saliva off his face with his arm. "Rude."

Drew shrugged. "Don't blame me for helping you keep a girlfriend. Then again, that ugly scar probably won't help your case."

Percy looked down, realizing he wasn't wearing a shirt. He winced, staring at the deep cut that ran from his right shoulder to his stomach. It was healing a bit, which was good, but the dark purple marks spread out from there, like bruises. It made Percy feel queasy.

So, it wasn't exactly poison. He probably would have been dead by then. So that meant this was some sort of sickness, or something like that.

"Fun." He muttered, letting himself fall back onto his bed. He buried himself into the blankets, since he was kind of cold.

Jason reached for the _Kleenex_ box. He probably grabbed about five tissues before placing them under his nose.

"It could've been worse," Jason said, attempting to cheer him up. "They could've kidnapped you or anyone else. No one was taken."

The door was slammed open before Jason could continue, and Grover stormed in, behind him Annabeth.

"Dang it, Percy!" Grover bleated, crossing his arms over his chest and stomping his foot. "Quit scaring me like that, you jerk! I'm really starting to regret this empathy link."

Percy laughed. "Feeling the love, G-Man."

Grover's scolding look vanished, replaced with relief. "I'm just glad you're okay, you know, since..." _Juniper_ _._

Guilt came over Percy like a tidal wave. He hated himself for adding to Grover's stress, with all the Lord of the Wild business and after what happened with Juniper and the other nymphs.

"Hey, don't blame yourself." Grover said, giving Percy a look of sympathy. "It's not your fault."

Annabeth, who was standing awkwardly with Jason in the back, came over with a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "I brought your favorite from the café." She said, rummaging through her bag and taking out one of her own hoodies. "I know it's not much, but I didn't really have enough time to run to your cabin. I was just glad you woke up, you loser."

Percy took the hoodie. Sure, it was a little smaller than what he would've wore, but he could live with it. Plus, it smelled like her, all lemony and stuff.

Percy looked back up at her. She seemed too calm in this situation. a small smile tugged at his lip, waiting for her sudden outburst. "Well...?"

"Percy, you idiot." Annabeth sighed, reaching over and hugging him so tightly it was almost like Tyson's bear hugs.

She kissed his cheek. "You scared the living hell out of me, you freaking dork. I didn't know what to think when I heard Piper yelling..."

"Hey, I'm fine. Don't stress over me." Percy squeaked, wincing in her tight embrace. "You, you can let go now. You're kinda, crushing my ribs."

Annabeth pulled back, looking apologetic. "Sorry, I probably should've thought about your condition beforehand."

_There_ _she_ _goes_ _again_ _, w_ _ith_ _all_ _those_ _big_ _words_ _when_ _she's_ _all_ _embarrassed_ _and_ _flustered_ _._

"Awwww," Connor cooed, before coughing violently again. The son of Hermes whipped out the _Kleene_ x box Jason had earlier from literally nowhere, coughing into one of the tissues.

"Oh gods." Connor muttered. Blood was currently dripping down the side of his mouth, starting from the usual dark red to a black color. He wiped the blood off his mouth quick and muttered something about better medication.

Jason handed Connor a glass of water and sat down, watching the conversation quietly. He was fiddling with a familiar golden blade. He cleared his throat, glancing at Annabeth with a pointed look.

"Oh, right." Annabeth sat beside Percy. "So, one of the people had dropped their weapons, and at first, we thought it was just normal Imperial Gold dipped with something. Until we were able to take a closer look."

Annabeth handed the dagger to Percy, and he noticed right away it wasn't normal Imperial Gold. It had a darker look, with an obsidian hilt and thin, dark patterns on the blade.

"Ooh. Fancy." Connor observed.

Grover didn't seem too impressed by it. He looked at it with a wary look and was probably writing himself a mental note to keep it away from him.

Percy examined the blade, confused. This wasn't like anything he'd ever seen. A small thought came into his head, but he pushed it away. It probably wasn't Egyptian from the way it looked. He glanced up. "Alright, anything I missed?"

"People are starting to believe that Hades may be up to this, since he is the god of darkness and riches." Annabeth said, taking out her note book and flipping through pages. Percy noticed Jason's eyes widening from the corner of his own eye.

"We still haven't talked to Hazel or Nico about this," Annabeth continued, finally finding the page she was searching for and taking out a pencil, jotting stuff down. "We've also found out that there's a connection with this and the nymphs. Austin and Katie have found dark marks on them also, all just under their left ear."

Grover went pale immediately, and he was out the door in less than ten seconds.

A laugh came from beside Percy, and he turned his head to see Drew giggling. "What a shocking surprise," she laughed, sarcasm dripping in her tone. "It's definitely that creep Hades. I wouldn't even be surprised if his son was in on it. I never trusted him."

Annabeth's eyes snapped towards Drew, her gaze becoming stony. Percy honestly wouldn't have been surprised if a fight broke out at that very moment. "I'm sorry, did we ask for your opinion?"

Drew glared back, but a smirk was still splayed out on her face. "I'm just saying, all the signs point to him. It's completely obvious. I'm even surprised you haven't noticed."

"Drew, shut up." Jason snapped at her, looking annoyed. Percy was surprised by how defensive he looked, ready to argue. His hands were balled into fists, sparking a little.

Sure, he and Nico had gotten off to a rough start, and he could be a little hard headed at times, but Nico definitely didn't deserve the crap being thrown at him because of his godly parent.

"Sparky, no shocking just yet." Percy muttered.

"No, go on, _Sparky_ _._ " Drew challenged, anger in her eyes. "Go on, shock me. Electrocute me, whatever. I don't care. Go ahead, do what that one girl failed to. I'm so sick of everything." She sniffled, eyes watering, but she continued.

"So, so sick of being in this stupid, cruel world. So sick of trying to be the best, and I'm so freaking sick of what I became. No one would care anyway so just kill me, dammit!" Drew screamed at Jason, shoving the lamp off the nightstand by her, letting it fall to the floor and shatter into a million tiny pieces. "Kill me, you coward!"

The demigods stared at her in shock as she broke down into a sobbing mess, putting her shaking hands into her tangled hair and crying. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hate this place, I hate this place so much. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."

Percy couldn't move. He just stared at her, utterly surprised by her sudden outburst. Percy felt a little twinge of pity and remorse for the daughter of Aphrodite.

But it was only a little. He couldn't make himself feel more even if he tried.

The room was plunged into silence for a few more minutes, before Connor had the nerve to cough. "Well, that escalated quickly."

Jason frowned at Connor disapprovingly, shaking his head. "Don't. Just, don't."

They all continued to sit in awkward silence, nothing but Drew's sniffles filling it. The silence was broken when Clarisse barreled in, Chris and Lou Ellen by her side. "There's been another attack." She announced, stomping her spear on the ground. "This time on Camp Jupiter."

"What?" Jason stood, looking a bit worried. Percy didn't blame him, it was his old home.

_Frank_ _._ _Reyna_ _._ _Hazel_ _._

_New_ _Rome_ _._

"It was bad. It was really bad." Chris wheezed, leaning against his girlfriend. "Way worse than what happened here. There was a kidnapping of about, eight people, twenty one marked. They had an army of monsters, full of about two hundred fifty of them. Parts of the city is in ruins."

Percy's heart sank. That was too many. He knew Camp Jupiter was strong, and they couldn't be taken down that easily, but somehow they were. It was terrifying to think that some group of cloaked brats where causing so much trouble.

"Have they praetors done anything about this?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrow furrowing.

"That's the problem." Lou Ellen said, a grim look stitched on her face. "No one can find them."


	9. Chapter 9

**R E Y N A** ****

All Reyna wanted was a little free time, to at least relax for a while without any nuisances disrupting her day.

Was that really too much to ask for?

But noooo. She couldn't just have a normal one hour without being bothered. Reyna had started off her day with a warm cup of hot cocoa from the Café, before she and Frank Zhang, the other praetor, had done some planning, talking about camp activities and what was happening around. They then made their way to the Senate to discuss the occurrences at Camp Half Blood with the other centurions.

"It's unbelievable," Leila, the centurion of the Fourth Cohort huffed, crossing her arms. "Nothing but some group of rogue demigods causing up so much trouble? They must be working for some godly deity. They can't do all that on their own."

Reyna payed close attention, stirring her hot chocolate with a thin straw. Frank sat beside her, having a quiet conversation with Hazel Levesque, centurion of the Fifth Cohort.

Hazel seemed to be going over what Nico had told them before, about what had happened and the information she was given.

"I think you're wrong," Hank stated, standing up abruptly. "We've done this all on our own. Just us demigods. Remember, underestimating one is a weakness."

The daughter of Ceres shot him a glare, also standing up. From what Reyna remembered, they had a little rivalry after what happened in one of the war games. "Overestimating one is also a weakness, last time I checked. Just because your father is Apollo, doesn't mean you're smarter than us."

"Centurions," Reyna warned, "This is not the time to argue. You guys can bicker all you want later, but this is a time for important matters." Reyna folded her hands and rested them on her lap. "You are aware of what had happened to Dakota, are you not? If we don't take care of this now, who knows who'll be next."

Frank flinched beside her, and he shot a glance at Hazel, who looked right back at him with a small, sad smile. Frank slumped in his seat, looking shocked.

"Wait, he's dead?" Mike Kahale raised his eyebrows. Reyna still didn't trust Mike much, after he had sided with Octavian. She still kept a close eye on the son of Venus.

"None of us know yet." Hazel interjected. "Though, these attacks have to be connected somehow. Three demigods going missing, a hunter vanishing, nymphs collapsing. This obviously isn't a coincidence."

"Could they maybe be former soldiers of Saturn?" Larry suddenly asked. All heads turned towards him and he flushed, unsure whether they thought he was dumb or brought up a good point.

"Maybe... No one really knows." Reyna muttered, considering this.

"We could ask the demigods who actually saw them. Wasn't it Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson, Jason's girlfriend, some daughter of Ve—Aphrodite, and one of those Hermes twins? I heard three of them actually got marked." Hank piped up.

Hazel's eyes widened when Nico, Percy, and Piper were mentioned. "Marked?" She managed.

"Yeah. Some dark purple marks." Hank continued. "It's nothing they've ever seen before. Might be some sort of poison."

"Hold up." Leila shouted, standing up. "It was said that one of them was walking around Camp Half Blood at night. You can only get through if you're a demigod from there, or if you're invited inside."

"Your point?" Hank grumbled, looking annoyed.

"What I'm saying is, what if there's a traitor." Her eyes narrowed, looking around the room. "One at Camp Half Blood, and one here. What if they're in this room, at this exact second."

Leila snapped her head towards Mike, the gazes of others following.

Mike Kahale growled, standing up so fast his chair fell over. He slammed his fist down. "What are you trying to say here? That I'm the one helping some group of rogue demigods?"

"Could be! Remember when you betrayed the legion to work with Octavian? Last time Dakota was seen was literally just in camp a few days ago with _you_ , so I wouldn't be surprised!" Leila snapped back, her voice rising.

The room erupted onto chatter and yelling. Hank stood, yelling with Leila for once. Mike shouted profanities at them, Hank screamed at him to watch his language. Hazel looked flustered and confused.

"Is it... Is it always like this?" Sumeiya, daughter of Minerva and the new co-centurion for Cohort Three asked, fiddling with her hijab.

"Yes. Yes it is." Larry sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey! HEY!" Frank yelled, wanting to catch their attention. An annoyed scowl was splayed out on his face when he was ignored, so he stood and slammed his mug down before yelling: "HEY! SHUT UP ALREADY!"

The arguments quickly died down, everyone staring at Frank in surprise. Frank wasn't the one who'd usually yell out of the blue, but when he did, you'd know he was joking around. Everyone looked a little terrified.

(Except Hazel, who looked pretty proud if you'd ask Reyna.)

"Accusing each other isn't going to get us anywhere, so I suggest—"

Frank didn't get to finish. There was a loud sudden bang, along with yells and shouting. He had this look on his face like: _why am I the one always interrupted?_

The demigods stood immediately, just about to bolt out of the Senate room to investigate when there was a sudden giggling in the corner of the room.

Reyna spun around, weapon in hand. In the corner sat one of the damned cloaked figures, fiddling with a golden bloodstained dagger.

"Well, look who it is," The figure finally piped up, raising their head. "Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, and Frank Zhang. Both praetors in the same room, with a few extra centurions. This will be fun."

Thankfully, Terminus had lifted the no weapon rule temporarily, much to his own dismay, ("BREAK ANY RULES AND IT IS OVER, I AM NOT PLAYING,") If not, they would've been unprepared and weaponless.

In less than a second, Frank had nocked an arrow, aiming it right at the figures head. The anonymous intruder only laughed, unaffected by the arrow that could easily take her life in a matter of seconds. "Now now, you don't want to treat your guest so awfully. We're all demigods here."

Reyna's eyes narrowed. She unsheathed her sword, pointing it at the figure. "Listen, and listen closely. I don't tolerate trespassers lightly. So just who the hell are you."

The figure just chuckled, standing up and brushing off her cloak. "Who I am isn't important, you should just know that we are not an enemy to be taken lightly, after all, we did take down like so many demigods and nymphs without even trying too hard." The girl laughed, doubling over like she had told them the best joke. "Oh, oh, I nearly forgot. The drunken bastard with the curly hair is a friend of yours, am I right?"

From the corner of her eye, Reyna could see Leila growling, her hands so tightly clasped around her gladius that her knuckles were turning white.

Leila and Dakota had been close friends after the war. When they weren't on duty, they'd hang out, walk around New Rome and discuss certain matters among each other. Reyna felt a pang of sorrow for Leila.

The girl continued, her smug, cocky attitude was obviously showing. "Ooh, his name was Dakota, right? Pretty cute. What a shame, you know, seeing the poor guy convulsing in pain when they were finished with him. How helpless, tsk tsk."

Reyna's eyes narrowed at the girl. Who did she think she was? Reyna was resisting the urge to snap at her. She stayed silent instead, waiting for everything to play out before striking. Acting before thinking was a very foolish thing to do, and she refused to make that mistake.

Leila, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. She marched forward, looking ready to gut the girl like a fish, while Hazel, who was suddenly way closer than before, snatched Leila by the arm and pulled her back. "No, this is exactly what she wants." She muttered quietly. "Don't give in."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Did I hit a nerve?" The girl sneered.

Leila wrenched her arm from Hazel's grasp with an angry cry. The floor was suddenly cracking, vines erupting from the fissures, and flying towards the girl.

The girl only laughed as they wrapped tightly around her arms and legs. She tugged at them, still giggling. "Is that seriously the best you can do? How pathetic."

It took only a matter of seconds, before Reyna noticed the vines becoming black, immediately wilting. The girl glanced up. "Why, thank you, Alabaster."

The sound of an unsheathed sword came from behind them, and Reyna whirled around once again, ready for a fight. She would not be taken by surprise by just a few rogues. She refused.

Standing there was a tall figure, in the same cloaked uniform. The figure grabbed his hood and pulled it back, revealing the face of a pale seventeen year old boy. He had piercing green eyes, straight brown hair, and freckles dotted across his nose and face.

Alabaster sent a glare towards the girl. He didn't really seem into the whole act like she did. The tall boy rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his cloak. "Whatever,"

His gaze turned to the other demigods, and he scowled, eyes resting on Reyna. "You. You're the ones who destroyed Mount Othrys."

"They had it coming," Hank snorted, fiddling with the sword in his hands. The son of Vulcan had a smug look on his face. "After all, haven't you ever heard of Karma?"

Alabaster's eyes narrowed. "You're all ignorant. The gods are nothing but tyrants, and there was an actual chance to break away from that. But no, you had to go and side with them, and ruin your chances!"

"That's enough, Ally." The girl's dreamy singsong voice rang through the room. She had also taken off her hood, revealing her tan skin, wavy brown hair, and hazel eyes.

The girl pointed at herself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to know my name. Penelope Vega, daughter of Morpheus. The dude over there is Alabaster Torrington, son of Hecate."

Alabaster grunted, giving them a seemingly sarcastic wave.

"Alright friends. Let's quit dragging this on, kay? Kay." Penelope cracked her knuckles, smiling. "I'd be nice of you if you'd... I don't know, let us borrow your praetors for a while. Just for a little while."

"Not going to happen." Hazel was suddenly behind her, raising her spatha and ready to knock her out. It finally clicked into place. Hazel must have used The Mist to conceal herself, before sneaking over to the girl, that explained how she got so close without Reyna even noticing.

Alabaster immediately reached into his pocket, taking out a bundle of cards and throwing one down. Alabaster's form froze, before crumbling to a pile of ashes. He was behind Hazel before anyone could react, wrapping his hand around her wrist and muttering. _"Enchante: Aurum Monumentum,"_

_Gold Tomb,_ Reyna translated, and she could only watch as Hazel's skin was covered with gold, quickly spreading out and encasing the daughter of Pluto in a cocoon. Hazel's eyes were wide in surprise when couldn't move or even control it. It wasn't even a minute before standing in Hazel's place was a nothing but a golden statue, hand still clamped tightly around her _spatha_.

"Aw, I didn't think you cared about me in that way." The daughter of Morpheus cooed at him, batting her eyelashes. Alabaster just ignored her like usual.

"Hazel!" Frank turned to face Alabaster, his face twisted in anger, his snarl wolf like. "What'd you do to her?"

"You should consider yourselves lucky. This, sadly, isn't permanent." Alabaster grumbled, letting go of Hazel's wrist. He tapped her head, a weak, yet triumphant smirk appearing on his face when there was nothing but a hollow echo. He looked pretty tired, even after only just one spell.

"You—" Frank nocked an arrow, aiming it at the son of Hecate and without any hesitation whatsoever, immediately let the bowstring go. The arrow pierced through the air at lightning speed, quickly advancing on him. The arrow was literally only a few inches away from his face when Alabaster vanished in a swirl of black dust. The arrow sank into the wall instead, digging itself deeply into the marble.

"Whoops." Alabaster's voice rang from behind them. "Sorry, Praetor. You might want to work on your aim." He shrugged innocently to prove some point.

"Screw this," Hank growled, breaking out into a run and charging right at Alabaster with a cry, imperial gold javelin in hand.

"Wait for the order!" Reyna snapped at him, but it was too late. The son of Vulcan launched himself at Alabaster, attempting to skewer him.

Alabaster dodged narrowly, barely escaping. Hank jabbed at the son of Hecate once again, aiming for his torso.

Reyna wanted to help out, she really did, but something in her gut told her it wouldn't help, even if there was more of them. They just didn't know how many could be in the room right now, ready to attack.

"Stay in formation. Don't attack just yet." Reyna warned the rest of the demigods. She unsheathed her sword, making sure to be prepared to fight when the chance came. 

Penelope, who was watching before, attempted to assist her partner, only to have her path blocked by Leila. Vines curled and snapped, looking surprisingly deadly in Leila's control. Penelope just laughed, a challenging grin creeping ear to ear.

"You want to play a game? Alright, let's play one of my favorites, an original I'd like to call A Little Dose Narcolepsy." Penelope held her hands out, and the temperature around her dropped, mist forming around the daughter of Morpheus and quickly spreading out.

Leila charged at her, vines flying from every direction at Penelope. The mist continued spreading, beginning to take some sort of shape. Every time the mist got to a vine, it'd would fall limp before shriveling up and dying on the spot.

"Come on! Hit harder, you little bi—!" Penelope was cut off as Leila's sword was digging into the side of her neck. Her eyes widened, glancing down at the daughter of Ceres in surprise.

Leila glared at her, fury in her eyes. "Move, and you'll have one less functioning artery."

Alabaster had started mumbling a spell, only to be disrupted by Hank, who managed to throw a punch right at his jaw. The son of Hecate stumbled, falling to the marble floor. Hank rested his foot on his chest, and aimed his weapon at Alabaster's face. "Oh shut it, you freaking traitor."

"Sumeiya, Mike," Leila ordered, wheezing a bit. "Go get some reinforcements. We'll need to put these two in trial."

The Muslim girl nodded, quickly making her way out of the Senate building. Mike Kahale looked annoyed, but followed her out the door anyway.

"Can't we just, I don't know, kill them right here?" Larry asked, looking a little upset he couldn't fight.

Frank kept glancing at Hazel's golden form, and Reyna could tell he would completely agree, but he shook his head. "No. We'll need them for information."

Alabaster started chuckling from his spot. "You're—you're going to torture us for information?" His chuckles turned into guffaws. "Ha! You're obviously no better than those gods you worship! You claim to be better, more kind and caring than them, but I know better!"

Alabaster turned his head, determined eyes staring Reyna down. "You seem to be making the same mistakes the gods made when Kronos rose to power. Blinded by their arrogance and cockiness. But listen closely when I tell you this: oh trust me, we're not going down this easily. We'll always be a step ahead."

It seemed almost too easy, in Reyna's opinion. She'd been taught to never let down their guard.

But she wasn't prepared for the moment Alabaster revealed a fragile silver orb, yelling out: _"Echante: concutite!"_ Before flinging it far away, straight towards the golden state of Hazel Levesque.

_Shatter_.

It would have been completely over for Hazel if a giant, angry elephant which had taken Frank's place hadn't barreled past, whacking the orb away with one of it's ivory tusks, unaffected when it shattered, ricocheting off him.

That was completely enough time for Penelope to grab Leila by the hair, digging her fingers into it and roughly grabbing her skull, muttering a spell as mist curled around the daughter of Ceres's ankles, and traveling upwards to make their way into her ears, mouth, and nose.

Leila's eyes glazed over, and she stumbled, swaying side to side. She coughed, trying to speak, but nothing but mist escaping her mouth. She fell to the floor in a fetal position, eyes wide and seemingly unable to move.

"Have fun with a few hours of Sleep Paralysis. The real world is cruel, isn't it? Sleep tight." Penelope smiled down at the girl, who was completely limp like a corpse.

Reyna had enough. She did not tolerate this a single bit, and she wouldn't regret the hell she'd wreck upon these two. Now was the time to act.

"You take the boy, I'll handle the girl. Hank, help Frank out. Larry, you're coming with me." Reyna muttered, ignoring Larry's response and sprinting into battle like lightning.

Reyna charged, spinning her sword in a deadly figure eight arc before lunging at Penelope. She launched herself into the air and drove her foot into her stomach.

The daughter of dreams was taken by surprise when Reyna's foot collided with her, knocking the air out of her and sending her sprawling to the floor.

"Get up and fight, soldier. Or become dog food." Reyna demanded, voice stone cold and her face stern. "They're very hungry." She added in her little dark humor, because it was kind of her speciality.

Larry walked over, looking awkward. "Um... Are you sure you even really need my help? You seem to already have her."

Reyna glanced over at two battling Alabaster. They seemed to have him cornered. Frank had an arrow aimed at his head, while Hank had his sword pointed at him and a victory smirk on his face. She quickly glanced down at her own opponent before she had any chance to attack.

Penelope glared up, eyes narrowed in fury. She didn't seem bored anymore. Now that she had been humiliated, gears were finally working in her head. "I'm done messing around, praetor."

"Good. It was starting to get a little tiring."

"You'd make a great leader in our army, praetor. It's a shame, he wouldn't approve. After all, it's all about him." Penelope suddenly stated, completely off topic.

Reyna's eyes narrowed to slits. She was obviously trying to confuse her, though she couldn't help but wonder: _Who_ _is_ _this_ _he_ _she's_ _rambling_ _about_ _? Their_ _leader_ _?_

"Too bad we'll have to make you join, isn't that right?"

Reyna didn't have time to react, a blast roared from behind her, knocking her into a column. She slammed her head on the marble. A cracking noise also emitted from her side and she yelped from the sudden pain.

She slumped, world spinning around her. Even with her blurry vision, She was able to see two unconscious forms skidded across the floor, both with charred clothes and smoke rising from them. Blood was flowing slowly from the head of one of them, flowing like a calm stream.

Four cloaked figures stood over the two demigods, glancing down at them. One of the figures raised their head. "We're here. It took you two so long we thought you were dead."

One of the bodies stirred, getting to their feet and struggling to stand, only to be kicked in the stomach and flipped over, a boot crushing down on their windpipe.

"Ah, praetor. What a surprise." The girl pressed her foot down harder on his throat, making the boy's eyes widen in alarm and make a weak gurgle. A bow lay snapped by his side, burning.

_Frank_ _._

Frank gagged, grabbing her ankle and trying to pull it off him, but she wouldn't budge. She just laughed and yelled something to her comrades, but Reyna couldn't hear a thing over the piercing ringing in her ears.

Reyna attempted to move, but she was too weak. She couldn't even give Frank some of her own strength. Her head throbbed in pain, and every bone in her body ached.

Alabaster walked over, kneeling down by Reyna, green eyes shining with amusement and glory. "By the way, an old friend says hi." He said, before driving his fist into the side of her face, and darkness took over.


	10. Chapter 10

**R E Y N** **A**

Reyna was honestly ready to kill at this moment.

Unfortunately, she couldn't at the moment. Her hands were a little occupied by the stupid magic cuffs locked around her wrists.

Long story short, she let her guard down, more of them showed up, and both she and Frank were abducted by a group of rogue demigods.

How noble.

The tip of a sword was currently jabbing into her back, and it was the most annoying thing Reyna had ever encountered. "Move it. We have business we gotta do."

Reyna's dark eyes narrowed, but she didn't bother saying a word. After all, it would be pretty useless in a situation like this. She observed the group of cloaked douchebags.

Alabaster and Penelope had both put their hoods back up, so she couldn't tell which was which. There was about four more of them, two of them trailing behind and dragging what seemed to be a griffin by a leash.

She glanced at Frank, who stood beside her. He had a straight, emotionless face, staring forward. It was at moments like these she remembered he was a son of Mars, one of the most vicious and ruthless gods of all.

Reyna was disappointed with herself. She had let herself be overwhelmed by their forces, a very stupid thing to do. She quietly cursed herself and mentally banged her head on a wall.

But, giving up wasn't an option. She'd have to surprise them. She stuck with keeping her mouth shut, looking sullen but not too upset, or else it would seem too fake. She was great at faking things, it was pretty much one of her specialties. She was currently weaponless, so she had debated on calling upon Argentum and Aurum, but decided against it. She didn't want to see them get harmed in anyway, especially with what happened with Hazel Levesque. It was very frustrating, this group of rogues seemed to be a step ahead of everything, prepared for anything to come their way. 

The figure beside her huffed, dark smoke curling from their mouth. They carelessly dropped their cigarette to the ground, only to reveal the lighter to ignite a new one. "So, Ramirez, spill the details. Are you always in a bad mood? Or do you just have the ever so terrible case of resting bitch face?"

Reyna had to suppress a scowl. She stayed silent, determined to not show any emotion. They would not get the pleasure of a reaction from her.

Hell no.

"Resting bitch face it is." The guy declared, breathing in the chemicals once more. He exhaled, the smoke once again emitting from his mouth and billowing in the cold winter air. The acrid stench lingered in the air, making Reyna want to gag.

She hated drugs with a burning passion. After all, that's what her father resorted to before he became a _mania_.

Reyna may have kept a straight face, but it was obvious Frank was getting ticked off. "It was bad enough with your toxic face here, but you just had to take out the-"

The guy was by him in less than a second, pulling his arm back and slapping him harshly across the face. "I recommend keeping your mouth shut, Praetor. It would be a shame if we had to cut your tongue."

Frank glared at him, but made the smart decision to not say another word. The figure snorted, reaching out and patting Frank on the head. "Good boy," He taunted.

"Quit talking with the prisoners, Randy." Alabaster's annoyed tone came from behind them.

"Shut up Ally, it's a free country."

" _Free_ _country_ my ass." Frank muttered.

The guy, Randy, spun on his heel. He didn't seem to notice Frank, he just walked back to Reyna, putting his arm around her and resting it on her shoulder. "So, Praetor, I'd like to know more about you."

Reyna gave him a icy glance. "Don't bother."

"What?" Randy finally seemed to get the what she was implying, and he answered by rolling his eyes. "Goodness, no, I'm not _hitting_ on you. Like, I get you'd think like that, but no Praetor, I sadly am not hitting on you."

Reyna resisted the urge to scoff.

S _eriously_ _?_ _Who_ _did_ _this_ _guy_ _think_ _he_ _was_ _?_ _Caesar_ _?_

"Alright!" Penelope called. "We're gonna take a short stop right here for a few minutes, and make sure to always be prepared. Those Olympian worshiping brats could show up at any moment. Got it?"

There were mutters of agreement, and they began to make themselves comfortable for the time being.

Of course, that was after they made sure to tie the two half bloods to the tree right next to the pet griffin. It seemed very interested by them, screeching and squawking and snapped at them

"Come close, and I will not hesitate to kick you in the face." Reyna warned the monster, eyes narrowing.

Randy's laugh rang out from beside her, and she scowled again. The boy appeared in view, kneeling down in front of her and chuckling. "Hey, that's not nice. He likes you." He tilted his head at the griffin, before turning back to face the daughter of Bellona. "Or at least the smell of you."

Reyna wanted to start cussing at him. She instead glared at him. "Why don't you just spend your time with your friends over there instead of watching us. We're pretty boring."

Randy only laughed, placing his hand on Reyna's head and patting her. "Reyna, Reyna, Reyna. You're so funny."

Reyna's eye twitched in annoyance. "I wasn't—"

"Listen, Ramirez, they don't really like me," Randy said this like it was no big deal. "and hell, I don't like them much either. They're kinda boring."

Reyna wasn't taken aback by this whatsoever. She raised an eyebrow, giving him an uninterested look. "Oh yes, please, tell me more about your life and other things I _totally_ care about." Reyna drawled, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Randy didn't seem to notice the sarcasm, he also didn't look like he was going anywhere. He sat down, getting comfortable. "You see, Rey-Rey—can I call you that?"

"No."

"So anyway, Rey-Rey," He seemed to ignore the seething glare sent his direction. "you see, there is this thing, called power. You're aware of it, right? Of course you are, Praetor. You have so much of it."

"Yeah, yeah, get to the point already." Reyna snapped.

"Damn, feisty." Randy snickered. He composed himself. "But anyway, yes, when one has to get to power, they have to go through certain challenges. Our challenge here, is trying to get along."

Randy gestured to the others in his group, currently gathered around and talking about maybe plans and such. "We may dislike each other, fight basically every day, or whatever, but we still stick together. You know why? Because we all have the same goal, and we're all determined to fulfill it, so we can all get exactly what we want, and make it equal for each one of us.

"Unlike you guys," Randy raised his index finger and continued. "who do things for your own selfish selves. Not caring about how it affects other people around you, perfectly fine with using others to achieve your selfish ends, no matter how bad it is."

"What are you trying to say?" Frank grumbled.

"Patience is a virtue, Cranky Franky." Randy retorted, gritting his teeth. "Don't make me regret not letting Sunshine here eat you."

Sunshine the griffin squawked as if to make a point.

"Like I said, you may claim that you all have one goal and one goal only, but in reality, you're all using that stupid reason own selfish benefit, and your benefit only. Not for anything else.

"Also, what I don't get about you camp demigods, is how you can claim you, _care_ _about_ _each other_ , but when one dies, you're just like-" Randy raised his voice to mimic some girl. "- _Ah_ _yes_ _,_ _Johnny_ _,_ _he_ _was_ _my_ _boyfriend_ _,_ _and_ _I_ _loved_ _him_ _with_ _all_ _my_ _heart_ _,_ _but_ _now_ _,_ _he_ _is_ _dead_ _._ _Wait_ _,_ _who_ _is_ _this_ _Johnny_ _?_ See what I mean? It's like they don't matter. Like they were nothing but lab rats, and their time in this little godly experiment has finally come to an end."

Randy chuckled, shaking his head. "It's pathetic, how you demigods and the gods think that is caring and love."

Randy glanced up at Reyna again. "Speaking of love, I heard Aphrodite had a conversation with you somewhere in Charleston, am I correct?"

Reyna was once again annoyed by him. How did these people know so much about her? It wouldn't have made sense unless they had planned this whole thing for a very, very long time.

"I'm gonna give you a little advice, hun. Love isn't real. Sure, you may be like, 'What? He's crazy, poor boy never experienced love.' But no. Don't bother with this love nonsense whatsoever." Randy's bitter tone said everything.

"You can try to argue with me all you want, it isn't real. They cover up lust with the idea of love, but trust me, those who, 'love you'-" Randy made quotation marks with his hands to get his point across. "-They're just using you for their own benefit."

Reyna had many fowl things to say about that, only, Frank was the one who began to chuckle first. "Wow, you _are_ ignorant."

Randy glanced up at the son of Mars. "Excuse me?" He said through gritted teeth, His voice having a challenging edge to it.

"You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Newsflash, buddy, you have to have experience with something before you start rambling and _preachin_ g about it." Frank defended.

Reyna was waiting for Randy to flip at Frank. To start screaming and yelling at him. He only chuckled though, flinging his used cigarette to the side and lighting his third one, before he started laughing hysterically.

"Oh gods, you are so dumb!"

Randy laughed on and on for a few more minutes, before he seemed calm. He made a sound crossed between a dark chuckle and an unstable giggle. "My godly parent is the reason my mother resorted to drinking alcohol instead of caring for her son."

Randy laughed again. "It's actually a hilarious story, if you think about it. She let him in, let her guard down and told herself some stupid thing like, ' _ah_ _yes_ _,_ _he_ _definitely_ _does_ _care_ _about_ _me_ _._ _He_ _does_ _love_ _me_ _._ _He_ _will_ _not_ _leave_ _me_ _,'_ Then BAM! She was left alone with me, nothing but a mistake, and a life destined to be crap.

"If only, she had been smart enough to leave him in the first place. Then I would've lived a normal life. A happy life like those stupid, lucky mortals. But no, she went crazy without him and took her own life." Randy deeply inhaled, "Unfortunately, we can't turn back now. So revenge on those _god_ s is all we can do now, but some of you decided to just follow them like blind puppies."

Randy exhaled once again, letting the toxic chemicals free from his airways. "Though I can't blame you. You have been brainwashed and treated like their little dogs."

Reyna had no time to react when Randy reached out, grabbing her forcefully by her jaw and tilting her head up to face him. "Ramirez, your father was turned into nothing but an abusive mania because of Bellona, your mother," He harshly loosened his grip, sharply turning in Frank's direction. "and last time I check, Zhang, your mother died because of your deadbeat father, Ares-or Mars, same thing really.

"I really don't see why you'd decline our offer, praetors." Randy finally seemed to get a grasp of his sanity for now, sitting back down and whacking Sunshine the griffin for trying to eat his arm. "After all, we are more similar than you think."

"Randy. Quit tormenting them with your annoying voice." Penelope called.

Randy sighed dramatically, getting to his feet. "You guys don't have too much fun without me, after all, I am the star of the party." He then turned on his heel, walking over to the other members of his team.

"I hate him." Frank grumbled immediately.

"I'm pretty sure we both do." Reyna huffed.

She watched closely as he sat down and conversed with the others, as if everything was perfectly normal. She scowled, wishing she had something, just something, she could use to free herself instead of being absolutely powerless and useless.

Reyna's mind drifted to what Randy had said earlier, about the gods and such. She decided to push it down for now, and focus on what was happening at this moment.

Once she was out of this, she was going to pummel them. Every single one of them.

Fortunately, that was when the silver arrow came slicing through the air, penetrating through the chain around the tree, connecting to Sunshine the griffin's collar with a loud _SHINK!_

Sunshine the griffin seemed more than glad to be free. He let out a screech, expanding his great feathered wings, launching himself at not Reyna or Frank, but at Randy.

Randy didn't see it coming. He was only turning when the griffin screeched, barreling into him. Randy let out a shriek kind of similar to the griffin's one.

"What—!" Alabaster's yell was cut off when another silver arrow zoomed past, lodging itself into the tree beside him. Reyna turned her head in the direction where the arrow had came from.

Sure enough, Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of The Hunters of Artemis stood there, nocking another arrow. White wolves were at her feet, growling at the gang of cloaked people. Other hunters stood behind her, arrows nocked and ready to fire. Thalia had a smirk plastered on her face. "So, I heard you were talking crap."

"I believe they were," Reyna whipped her head around to see Hylla Ramirez, her sister, surround by other Amazons. "I've also heard they've been abducting some of our own. We can't have that, can we?"

Hylla glanced at Reyna. "Hey, little sis. We really have to stop meeting like this."

Reyna didn't try forcing her emotions down. She grinned so wide.

Frank, on the other hand, looked a bit relieved, but annoyed at the same time. "Almighty Mars, why me?"

A blast of yellow dust erupted from where Randy was, and he stood, dusting off the remains of the griffin. He was covered with claw marks and scratches. "Man, it took me so long to find one of those, and then it just had to rogue."

Alabaster whacked him upside the head. "Idiot! We're surrounded and you care about getting another stupid monster pet?"

"Ah, shut your mouths, you filthy men." One hunter snapped. She then beamed, looking up at Thalia. "I _always_ wanted to say that."

The hunter composed herself, glaring at them again. "But yeah, shut up."

Thalia only smirked, rolling her eyes at the younger hunter and turning her attention back to the other rogue demigods. "You heard her. Now, if you're wise, and decide to surrender, you won't have to have arrows in your face, if you do, you'll have arrows in the face and because dog food."

The white wolves growled beside her, baring their sharp teeth to emphasize the point.

It seemed as though the rogues gave up, kneeling down and dropping their weapons, putting their arms up. Thalia, on the other hand, wasn't amused. "You can't trick me with that Mist magic. It's an old trick in the books. Nice try."

"Oh really." The wolves began barking as a dark shape appeared over Thalia, sword raised over it's head.

That's when a knife went whizzing past, aiming for right behind Thalia. The figure who stood behind her swore loudly, quickly dodging the blow, unfortunately for him, that's when the hood fell down, revealing his identity.

The hunter spun around, aiming the arrow and releasing it, letting it fly. Alabaster dodged once again, the arrow only cutting his cloak.

Thalia's eyes had widened at the son of Hecate. He stood, glaring at Thalia. "Well, remember me, old friend?"

Reyna didn't have time to even think about that sentence. Thalia immediately nocked another arrow, yanking the bowstring back and releasing once again. This time the arrow managed to catch him right in the shoulder.

Everything went spiraling out of control. Rogues lunged at the Hunters and Amazons, stabbing, slashing, and maiming at lightning speed. The Amazons managed to hold them off, disarming many of them while Hunters picked them off.

Alabaster and Thalia fought like demons. Alabaster slashing at her, Thalia firing left and right. They were both nothing but a blur.

The young huntress from before knelt beside Reyna and Frank, sawing through the enchanted rope. She gave Reyna a bright smile. "There ya go, Praetor. Use this for now." She handed her a silver dagger.

The huntress glanced at Frank, contemplating for a while before shrugging, and going over to free him too.

Reyna stood, eyes narrowed and ready for anything to come her way. From the corner of her eye she noticed a small figure launching up at Hylla, and she took the knife the hunter gave her, throwing it right at the lithe rogue, catching her right in the side. The rogue demigod let out a curse only Penelope would say.

"Nice aim!" Hylla called, grinning. "I had her, but thanks!"

Reyna nodded, knowing that she obviously didn't notice her, but she didn't say anything.

Frank rushed over, a silver dagger in his hand. "If only they lent me a bow." He mumbled.

"There's too many of them!" Alabaster shouted. "Retreat—Gah!"

Last part was because Thalia had kicked him in the face, sending him stumbling back. "That was for Luke." She growled, nocking one last arrow at the son of Hecate.

Alabaster stood, staring Thalia down. He then grinned at her. "Oh trust me, even without our help Luke would've still made the right decision."

Thalia didn't seem to care about what he had to say. She let go of the bowstring, letting the arrow free. That was also the moment Alabaster suddenly lurched up, making no reaction when the other arrow skimmed past. He raised his sword and slashed Thalia across the stomach.

Thalia stumbled back, cursing and holding her stomach. She glared at them.

Alabaster sent a glare at the other rogues, before he vanished in a swirl of black mist. The other rogues followed quickly, knowing they couldn't win this fight.

The young huntress from before ran over to Thalia, freaking out and panicking. Another huntress just rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, it's just a scratch."

Hylla glanced at Reyna. "It's nice to see you again, but we have business, and many other injured roman demigods awaiting our arrival."

"Wait, what happened at Camp Jupiter when we were gone?" Frank suddenly demanded. It was obvious he was worried about Hazel and the others.

Thalia grunted from where she lay. Blood seeped through her shirt, seeming darker than it's usual color. "Let me tell you this, it definitely isn't pretty."


	11. Chapter 11

**R** **E** **Y** **N** **A**

"No, no, no, no!"

Reyna slammed her fist on the barrier, causing it to ripple. She swore, hitting it again, only resulting in the same reaction. "No, this can't be happening."

She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it.

Her camp— _her_ _home_ —was literally blocked. No matter how many times she'd drive her fist into the barricade, not a single attempt would break it.

She didn't know what took over. She let out an angry shout and kicked the barrier, ignoring the pain shooting up her leg. "Stupid! I'm so stupid!"

"Reyna, calm down." Hazel called out softly, clearly no longer a golden statue. "They had planned this for months... we we're too caught up with Gaea, please don't blame yourself."

They were tougher than this, she knew they were.

So then how did everything just suddenly become chaos?

"You were unconscious for a while, Rey." Hylla sighed, reaching out an placing a hand on Reyna's shoulder.

Reyna growled, shoving Hylla's hand off her shoulder and spinning around to face her older sister. "You think that's an excuse? There is no excuse for being a crappy praetor and being unable to protect your own camp!" She pointed at the barrier. "There are _people_ trapped in there, Hylla, frozen in place. We don't even know how long this will last, or if they won't die from lack of resources, or any of that! A proper praetor is supposed to be ready, no matter what!"

Frank, who was currently sitting beside Hazel, mumbled, "Well there goes my self-esteem."

Hylla stepped back, looking a bit surprised about Reyna's outburst. Reyna breathed heavily, still angry with herself. All the control she worked so hard to gain was slipping from her fingers in so little time, it was very nerve wracking.

Reyna's eyes traveled to the other demigods, staring at her like she had just suddenly sprouted wings from her back or something strange like that. That's what alerted her.

 _I'm_ _supposed_ _to_ _give_ _them_ _hope_ _,_ _not_ _bring_ _them_ _down_ _._

Reyna took a deep breath to calm herself down. Her eyes darted around, noting everyone's attention still glued on her. Everything felt like it was closing in on her, and she never really felt that way in a while until now. She hated that feeling, it made her feel weak and powerless, like some prey.

" _You either eat,_ _or_ _you_ _get_ _eaten_. _That is how the real world_ _is_ _,"_ Lupa would say.

Reyna felt her hands ball into fists and clenched her jaw when she was reminded of Alabaster, Penelope, Randy and the other rogues. Reyna made a low growl. She would not let them win by giving them a reaction and letting them know they had hit a weak spot.

She absolutely refused to be the prey again.

Reyna sat down on a log, putting an emotionless expression over her face. She glanced up at the remaining campers, hunters, and amazons who had their eyes basically glued to her this whole time.

"I—" She cleared her throat, fiddling with the ring on her finger. "I need some time to think."

One of the campers, a tall ginger boy with green eyes, spoke up. Reyna remembered his name was Wesley Parks, or something like that. "That's totally fine, Praetor. Take your time."

The hunter right next to said boy realized he was by her. Her lip curled back in disgust and she scooted away, muttering something about dog. Wesley turned back, sticking his tongue out and flashing her his middle finger.

Another girl—Kat, daugter of Mars, she believed she was—gave her a supportive smile. Reyna knew the girl's intentions were good, but she still got annoyed. It made her feel like she was being pitied.

She absolutely _hate_ d being pitied.

Reyna turned her attention away from everyone, blocking out any chatter or discussion. She had to somehow turn this all around. After all, it was her fault in the first place.

"Yo, Reyna, quit it." Thalia's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. The daughter of Zeus had sat down beside her, watching her with electric blue eyes.

Reyna cocked an eyebrow at the Hunter, confused by the sudden comment. "What?"

"I know that look. You're blaming yourself.  I've seen Annabeth make those same expressions too many times to not know."

Reyna blinked, suddenly remembering the time when Annabeth and her pulled an all nighter and just talked through Iris Message. They switched back and forth between deep conversations, and just plain silliness.

Annabeth had opened up to her about many things, and in return, Reyna did the same. It was nice to have someone you could trust and relate to, and Annabeth Chase was definitely the person she had waited for since for like, _forever_ _._

She remembered how Annabeth had confessed about her childhood, how she had ran away from home at seven years old, using nothing but pure wit and a hammer to survive, until Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan finally found her one day. Annabeth had explained everything, even shedding a few tears every now and then.

 _"_ _It_ _really_ _hurt_ _,"_ Annabeth had said. _"_ _Knowing_ _that_ _someone_ _I_ _believed_ _cared_ _about_ _me_ _, would_ _just_ _,_ _do_ _something_ _like_ _that_ _."_

Then there was the little theory that Annabeth shared with Reyna, about how she genuinely believed Thalia and Luke did care deeply for each other, maybe even in a romantic way...

"Hey, I don't mean to pry in anyway," Reyna suddenly said, her curiosity getting the best of her. "When you fought Alabaster, you mentioned someone by the name of Luke...?"

Thalia froze, eye twitching, and Reyna was almost afraid she had hit a nerve. Maybe the topic was more sensitive than she had thought. She was seriously expecting Thalia to actually hit her.

Thalia finally sighed instead, slumping. "Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. He, uh, he betrayed Camp Half-Blood and hosted Kronos during the Titan War." She said, uneasiness and awkwardness in her tone.

Reyna was opening her mouth to speak when Thalia immediately interrupted, sounding very defensive. "It was _him_ who took down Kronos, not Percy. He's the one who made the ultimate sacrifice. Whatever you're gonna try to say or accuse him of, he'll always be a _hero_ , even after his mistakes. You hear me, Ramirez?"

Reyna blinked in surprise. She knew Thalia would probably have a reaction, but she didn't think it would be something like this. "I wasn't going to say anything like that."

Thalia cocked an eyebrow at her, as if saying: _sure_ _,_ _hon_ _._

Reyna turned herself around, facing Thalia. "I worked with Circe, an evil witch for most of my childhood. When I say I won't judge, _I_ _will_ _not_ _judge_ _._ "

Thalia didn't look too convinced, but she continued with the story. "It wasn't Luke who actually made the group for the demigods with Kronos, they just recruited him, and somehow he became the leader just, sort of out of nowhere."

Thalia's eyes narrowed. "That's where Alabaster came in. The two of them apparently talked frequently, since both of them where in the Hermes Cabin. It was Alabaster who actually talked Luke into it. Shortly, Luke disappeared. Next year Alabaster didn't come back to camp. That's all I know, since I was basically a pine tree most of the time.

"Years later, Battle of Manhattan, Alabaster and I fought. We had a bit of a... conversation, argument, whatever the hell you want to call it, it basically did not end well. I never saw him on the battlefield again. I actually thought he had died in battle for a while, but I guess I was wrong."

Reyna nodded, soaking in every word. So Alabaster Torrington was a part of the reason Saturn—or Kronos, didn't make much of a difference to Reyna—rose to power.

And now he's back again, with a group of rogue demigods that managed to set some magic barrier around a camp as successful and powerful as Camp Jupiter.

Splendid.

Hank was probably right... they couldn't do all this without aid of some godly being. After all, they were against the Olympians, not all gods in general. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find a god who wanted Zeus's head on a stick

All her thoughts traveled back to what had happened before, when the rogues some how found a way through the barrier. She wondered what had happened after she and Frank were taken. Knowing Camp Jupiter, they definitely didn't go down without a fight.

Thalia attempted to stand, only managing to sit up before hissing in pain, her arm wrapped over her wound. "What in the hell did they put on that blade." She muttered.

"Lieutenant Thalia!" The young hunter from earlier scolded, marching over to her figure of authority. She placed both hands on her hips and stood tall and proud, even though she was probably about 5"2.

"Sit right back down, young lady. You are in no shape to be up and about." The girl chided, crossing her arms over her chest.

Reyna glanced at Thalia, who grunted.  
"Thanks, Anika, for looking out for me, but seriously, you don't have to."

The Indian girl huffed. "As a daughter of Apollo, it is my job to check on any wounds and make sure my patient is healthy."

"We're _immortal_ _._ "

"You never know!"

Reyna weakly smiled as the two bickered for a while. It sort of reminded her of the relationship she and Hylla used to have.

It was so much simpler back then.

"Guys, we have company." A roman archer suddenly announced, bow already in hand, an arrow knocked. All attention was turned to the swirling mass of darkness that had appeared right by the barrier. Weapons were unsheathed immediately, everyone prepared for anything to come their way.

"If they get in, who knows what'll happen." Hylla hissed.

Only Hazel seemed aware of what was happening. "Wait, hold your fire!"

Instead of the darkness sinking through the barrier, it instead bounced off, quickly forming into three silhouettes, who had seemed to hit their heads on the barrier.

"Gah!" Nico di Angelo was one of those three, stumbling backwards and tripping over his own feet. Two other demigods, who Reyna remembered as Lou Ellen and Clovis Mayer also stumbled around blindly, holding their heads and and groaning.

"Holy—" Clovis moaned, only to run face first into a tree.

It was nothing but silence, until Thalia started laughing at them, before coughing. "That was the funniest thing I've seen all day."

"Thanks for the support, Thals." Nico grumbled, sitting up and adjusting his jacket. That's when he finally noticed the barrier surrounding Camp Jupiter, and the hundreds of roman campers. His  
eyes widened. "Holy Hades."

"Yeah, it's really bad." Hazel knelt down beside her brother, helping him up and giving him a tight hug. He hugged her back, kissing her forehead and muttering something like: _thank_ _gods_ _you're_ _not_ _a golden_ _statue_ _._

Clovis had sat down beside Wesley. "You mind if I sleep here?" He didn't even wait for the answer and just rested his head on the son of Lupa's shoulder. Wesley just blinked, patting his head awkwardly. "Oh—okay."

"Boys are so weird." The huntress from before huffed.

"No one asked you, honey." Wesley answered back.

"This must be some high level magic right here. I've only read about occurrences like this. Maybe, If I..." Lou had regained her balance, marching over to the barrier and placing her palm on it, muttering some enchantment.

They waited for a while before anything actually happened. The smell of smoke came first, before Lou swore, yanking her hand away from the steaming barrier. Her hand had came away red, little traces of dark purple staining her fingers.

"That—that definitely isn't regular magic." Lou managed, still holding her hand. "How is that even possible..."

"That's just effin peachy." Mike Kahale growled. "Some stupid useless rogues somehow block us from our own camp. Isn't that just great?"

"Mehhm. Meh." Leila agreed, still looking very shaken up. She had bags under her eyes and looked sickly pale. The daughter of Ceres sat against a tree, legs brought up to her chest and arms wrapped around herself protectively, as if something was likely to attack her.

"Two hours of Sleep Paralysis never has a good affect." Sumeiya sighed. Leila nodded, muttering more incoherent words and fiddling with her fingers.

Frank sighed. "Look guys, until we find someway to break this stupid thing, we'll have to stay at Camp Half Blood." He ignored the groans of a few Romans. "It's the only other place to go, after all."

"Shut your mouth, Zhang." Someone in the back finally snapped at him. "As if we'd want to go to some... Greek camp."

"Unless you want a stygian iron sword up or nose, I suggest you keep your useless opinion to yourself." Nico hissed, deadly quiet.

"Okay, okay! Enough." Thalia got up, marching over. "All this arguing crap, isn't gonna help. Sorry, but it's true." She shrugged. "Truth hurts. Deal with it."

Hylla scooted over to Reyna. "I like that girl. She's got sass." That earned a quiet chuckle from Reyna.

"Now, unless you want to die or something—doesn't really matter to me in anyway, have fun— I suggest you actually go to Camp Half-Blood. No one really cares about your low key stupid thoughts about 'Roman Superiority,' or _whatever_." Thalia crossed her arms over her chest. "So choose wisely. Are you gonna be smart and accept the aid given to you? Or are you gonna be dumb and decide to go off on your own, or something stupid like that?"

"Any Roman girls could join us, Lieutenant." Anika suggested, grinning brightly at any girl in the crowd.

"Or us." Another Amazon stated.

Hylla shrugged. "That'll work."

Nico stood beside Thalia, standing confident and tall, radiating power. He watched, eyes darting towards people who made a single move. "Well?"

Reyna finally stood. She spun on her heel, facing the group of Roman demigods that looked up to her.

She prayed deeply that this would work. That maybe the Greeks could help them.

"Camp Jupiter, we're taking a little trip to Camp Half-Blood,"

**\-----**

Cecil's wrists ached.

Cold shackles were placed tightly around his thin wrists. A blindfold covered his eyes, blocking all light from the world. The strong smell of flesh and blood burnt his nose, making his eyes water.

This was definitely how he wanted to spend his day.

 _Not_.

He yanked at them again, hoping maybe he'd break them this time. They were weakening somehow, so that was a good sign, but it was taking too long. After all, he was a son of Hermes, this stuff was supposed to be a piece of cake.

Cecil hissed. "Come on..."

A girl's scream suddenly pierced through the air, echoing down the corridor. Cecil felt his stomach drop. _What_ _in_ _hell_ _were_ _these_ _people_ _doing_ _?_ Of course, that was when the smell of smoke finally came through.

Cecil gulped, forcing down any bile trying to escape. They were probably burning the poor girl, as in some way to maybe get information or anything out of her.

Or maybe was it just for fun? Cecil didn't know.

He didn't even notice the footsteps coming his way, until the door to his cell opened. Cecil scrambled back, nearly having a heart attack.

"August, seriously, is there even a point to this? Torturing them like this?" Alabaster Torrington's voice rang through the cell-room.

"Of course there is. Don't be silly."

Alabaster sounded uneasy. "We probably shouldn't do that... It'll just break them, not make them tough—"

There was the sound of a harsh slap, and a body falling to the floor. "Don't question my ideas, Alabaster. I know exactly what I'm doing. Now be a good little demigod and do something useful."

"Y-yes, sir." Alabaster stammered, picking himself up and immediately getting out of there.

Footsteps came closer, and Cecil's heart raced faster. This definitely wasn't good.

A strong hand grabbed Cecil by the throat, causing him to make an involuntary squeak. Another hand had found the blindfold, yanking it off.

Light came through from every direction, blinding Cecil. It took him a while to adjust, blinking multiple times. He found himself in a dark cell-room with a  single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, which was exactly what he was expecting. That's when his eyes darted to the apparent mastermind of this whole operation.

The guy—August, Cecil remembered— looked about eighteen, with light brown hair and dark blue eyes. He was fairly tan, and looked pretty strong too.

The odds were clearly not in Cecil's favor.

Wonderful.

August let go of him, standing up. He seemed to study Cecil, noting every feature of his. "So... You're the one he got instead of Nico di Angelo."

Cecil had to avoid sighing in relief. _So_ _they_ _didn't_ _take_ _Nico_ _._ _Or_ _Will_ _,_ _or_ _Lou_ _._

"Uh, yeah..." Cecil mumbled.

August growled. "Stupid idiot always ruins everything." He then turned back to Cecil, a sickly sweet smile on his lips. "But, no matter. You'd still be good for the plan."

Cecil felt like he was going to be sick. "Good? Good for what plan, um, exactly?"

August didn't answer. He only proceeded to drive his foot into Cecil's side, knocking the air out of his lungs. Cecil stumbled back, coughing violently. He didn't have time to react when hands were suddenly in his hair, grabbing him and slamming his head into the wall.

"Good night, Olympian scum."

Another slam and the world turned black once again.


	12. Chapter 12

A N N A B E T H

Annabeth knew she needed sleep when her head nearly collided with her desk.

Her eyes snapped open when her head was about an inch from the table. She yelped, yanking her head up so fast it probably could've given her whiplash. She blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes and blinking again to make her vision clear.

"You've been working on those blueprints for hours." A voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

Annabeth didn't know how it happened. She pushed herself back, trying to make space for her legs so she could stand. Her chair had other ideas. It sailed to the floor, taking Annabeth down with it. There was laughter from said person, causing Annabeth to growl profanities and look up at where the voice was coming from.

Sure enough, Malcolm Pace, her half brother, stood over her, chuckling to himself. He flinched away from her cold glare, but still chuckled. "I'm sorry, but that was hilarious. Are you okay?"

Annabeth sat up, grumbling and rubbing her head. "Ugh... yeah, I'm fine. Whatever."

Malcolm chuckled, holding out his hand for his half sister. Annabeth gladly took it, standing up and adjusting her shirt and hair. "How long was I even working? I don't even remember anymore." She questioned, curious.

"Um, probably an hour or two. Also, the campfire started a while ago. Percy was gonna come check up on you since you were running late, but we couldn't have anything happening, you know. With the whole rule, and stuff." Malcolm winked at her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and elbowed Malcolm in the stomach. So Leo did tell him about the whole stables incident. "Very funny."

"Also, I came to tell you, we have a few visitors."

Annabeth stopped, raising an eyebrow. "Visitors?"

"From Camp Jupiter. After the whole thing there. It was worse than we thought."

Annabeth swore, grabbing one of her navy blue hoodies and quickly pulling it on. "Rate from a scale of one to ten."

"I'd probably have to say—"

"Annabeth, did you hear the news?" The door swung open, revealing Will Solace. Chiron had decided to finally let Will out of the infirmary, though he still looked pretty pale. There were some good changes though, for example the bags under his eyes were fading, and he looked a bit healthier.

Annabeth's eyes traveled down, noticing the dark purple markings making their way to his hand. The markings looked like some sort of pattern she'd never seen before, with twists and swirls, they could almost even pass as beautiful.

That was, if they weren't having such an awful affect.

"About the Roman half-bloods? Yeah." Malcolm answered for her, tapping his fingers on his leg. He also examined Will, before commenting. "No offense, but you look awful."

"I totally did not know that. For a child of Athena, you're not so good at observing." Will drawled, voice laced with cold sarcasm. There was something different with his tone that definitely did not match the usual Will very much.

She couldn't blame him though, she sure would be a little crabby if she was in his place at the moment.

Malcolm huffed, muttering "rude" under his breath.

Will rolled his eyes and turned back to Annabeth. "The rogues managed to put a whole barrier around Camp Jupiter, no one can go in, or out. Most of the people in New Rome are basically frozen."

Annabeth sucked in breath. This was just getting worse. "Any sign of Frank and Reyna?"

"Actually, yes, and I think that's probably the only good thing in this whole situation."

Annabeth relaxed, a small bit of tension off her shoulders. Thank gods. She was genuinely relieved by the fact she didn't lose anyone else she cared about this week.

So far, a small, yet demanding voice in her head reminded her. You're a demigod, lower your expectations. Anything could happen.

Of course, just at that moment, the conversation at the campfire had turned into yelling and shouting. Annabeth had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

Told you, The voice in her head beamed.

"Should we even bother checking up on them?" Malcolm sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Definitely, we can't have them doing something stupid."

\-----

Annabeth was honestly getting tired of being right.

It was utter chaos, debates and arguments all around. Annabeth frowned, a little surprised by how rowdy

Few Romans still had a distaste for the Greeks, and the feeling was mutual for few of those Greeks. They sent glares back and forth, sort of like a tennis match.The hunters, as usual, were not too fond of the campers. A young Desi girl was currently yelling at the Stolls, who were snickering about something like usual.

She was greeted by Grover, who was currently sending her a help me look.

Percy sat right beside him, arguing with Clarrise while she had her hands covering the ears of Chuck the baby satyr.

"Stop talking, Jackson, you're gonna plague the kid with your stupid." Clarisse claimed.

Chuck giggled, unaware of the current situation. "Stupid!"

"Yes, stupid, Well done kid, you're learning so fast." Clarisse beamed.

"Oh, come on!" Percy flung his arms out, exasperated. "And I'm the one—"

"What did I say about bad influence, Jackson?" Clarisse interrupted, not caring a single bit about what he had to say. "Zip it."

Percy proceeded to fume quietly.

Annabeth felt a hand on her shoulder, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Camp Half-Blood, huh Beth?"

Reyna stood beside her, looking confused as ever. Dark eyes darting left to right, calculating every sign of movement. She gave Annabeth a weirded out look. "So, is this how your camp is usually like?"

Annabeth couldn't help but grin, enveloping the daughter of Bellona in a tight hug. "Glad to see you again, Reyna."

That was answered by a huff. "It'd be better if it was my own will. Unfortunately, I didn't have many other options, no offense."

Annabeth pulled away, frowning. "Yeah, I've heard."

Reyna looked around, eyes narrowing, before whispering. "Do you remember anyone by the name of Alabaster Torrington?"

"Alabaster? Sounds like 'Alas, a bastard,'"  
A voice rang out from beside her. Annabeth turned her head, seeing Percy and she nearly scrambled back in shock.

He looked different, his skin tone was noticeably pale, dark circles beginning to appear under his eyes, his hair more tousled than usual.

Reyna seemed to notice too, since she trailed off, probably forgetting what she was originally supposed to say. Both girls stared at the son of Poseidon until he finally cleared his throat awkwardly.

Percy blinked, confused. "What? You guys are staring at me like I just murdered a puppy."

"Mars Almighty, what happened to you, Jackson?" Reyna finally asked.

Percy was silent, before crossing his arms over his chest. "I probably look like Nico now; maybe we could twin or something."

Annabeth frowned at him. "Seaweed Brain, I love that you're trying to make the best out of a crappy situation, but seriously—" She yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Annabeth, I'm fine, quit worrying about this," Percy kissed her head. "I'm gonna be fine, okay?"

Annabeth knew the guy since they were twelve and she could already tell — The idiot was probably not as 'fine' as he thought, yet she found herself nodding.

Reyna cleared her throat, "Um, hi, still here,"

"Sorry. Now back to the subject—"

"YOU DOUCHEBAG!" A commotion had started around the fire. One of the hunters had Connor Stoll by the collar of his shirt, shaking him. "WHAT IN THE UNDERWORLD IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"MANY THINGS, WOMAN," Connor responded, whacking the girl with his arms. "MANY THINGS!"

"Anika, put him down." Will sighed from where he sat, fiddling with a bandage around his wrist.

Unlike the others, it was obvious that Clarisse was clearly enjoying this. "PUMMEL HIM!"

"No, don't." Will snapped, sending Clarisse a cold glare. He must have been spending time with Nico lately, because the glare shooting her way was pretty scary if you were on the receiving end.

Nico, on the other hand, looked a bit surprised about his sudden outburst. Lou Ellen was quickly by his side, muttering to him.

The girl next to Will shrugged. "Come on, maybe it'll be entertaining. We need a little entertainment after what's been happening."

Will shot the girl a look, eyes narrowing. "Teresa, no."

The girl, Teresa, rolled her eyes, putting her earbuds back in and closed her eyes once again, drowning out the rest of the world.

"Will's right, all this fighting won't do anything," This time a strawberry blonde girl piped up, closing her notebook and finally paying attention to what's going on around her.

Anika glanced at Will and the other girl, before glaring up at Connor and flinging him down. "Down like the dog you are."

Connor glared up at her. "Oh, I'm a dog? I didn't really notice, since you really act more like a bi—"

That seemed to be the last straw for Will. He got right up, marching over with a look that probably said something like shut up unless you want a scalpel shoved down your throat. "Quit it, you two. You're both acting like you're sixth graders."

"Styx," Percy muttered beside her. "What's up with him?"

From the corner of her eye, Annabeth noticed Reyna frown. "We should probably break it up, before it gets too serious."

Annabeth nodded, turning her attention back to the dispute. There definitely was something off with Will. The Will Solace Annabeth knew was more calm, preferred not getting in the middle of things and tended to make suggestions from the side. This Will, however completely ready to start a fight, and he seemed pretty determined to end it too.

Annabeth's eyes traveled to the mark on his arm, realization settling in. This has to be some sort of effect of the mark...

Anika's eyes narrowed at Will. "Excuse me? Who do you think you are, male? Telling me what to do as if you own the place,"

Nico seemed to have enough. The son of Hades stood right up, grabbing him by the shoulder. "Will, what the utter hell are you doing?"

What he did shocked Annabeth. Will merely grabbed Nico's wrist, ignoring Nico's sound of protest. He turned around, glaring at him with an unfamiliar expression. "Nico, do me a favor and don't get involved."

Nico seemed to freeze, staring at Will with a strange look, as if it was some random person in Will's place. Nico quickly wrenched his arm away from the son of Apollo grasp, still seeming confused.

"Hey, maybe we could make a comprise or something," The strawberry blonde girl—Cordelia, Annabeth remembered— said, a bit frantic to end this already. "how about we just forget this ever happened?"

Clarisse, on the other hand, seemed really eager. "See that kid? You might be able see your first actual fist fight."

Chuck grinned, clapping wildly.

If things couldn't get worse, a Roman camper began laughing. "Hey, a Greek and a Greek arguing? This is hilarious, you Greeks are barely even a proper legion."

That caught the attention of both archers, heads snapping in the direction of the Roman half-blood.

"Excuse me, douchebag?" Anika hissed.

"Are you wishing for plastic surgery?" Will finally scowled. "Because after I'm done rearranging your face and every limb on your scrawny ass body, you'll definitely need it."

Nico looked alarmed, surprised about the way his friend was acting. "Will! What the hell is your problem—"

"Nico. Stay out of—" Will didn't finish his sentence. He turned away from Nico before he doubled over, coughing violently.

"Will—" Nico began.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Will interrupted, waving it off and wiping his mouth with his arm. Will pulled his arm away, and his eyes seemed to bulge noticeably realizing the black stuff staining his arm was blood.

Connor also seemed to also notice the black blood on Will's arm, and his eyes immediately snapped to the marks covering the son of Solace's arm. Connor then looked down at himself, his own eyes widening.

Alright, this definitely has to do with that stupid mark, Annabeth concluded.

Before Annabeth could go into deeper thought about the dark purple marks, her ADHD quickly caused her attention to switch over to the young hunter, fury written on her face as she hissed something in Hindi under her breath. Anika had seemed to forget all about Will, she marched right on over to the smug Roman, pulling back her fist and punching him across the face.

The demigod stumbled, falling on his back, his hand pressed on where he was punched. "You stupid little—"

He was interrupted by a silver arrow, aimed at his throat. "You're lucky I didn't use any arrows yet," She warned, eyes narrowed. "but I'm not afraid to make that statement false,"

The boy yanked his dagger out of it's holster, glaring hatefully at Anika. "Do you wanna go?"

"Try me!"

"DIE!" Little Chuck cheered, waving his stubby hands and kicking his tiny goat legs in excitement.

Grover seemed to scold Clarisse, taking Chuck from her arms. "No, Chuck, no dying."

"DIE!"

"Hey! Quit it!" Annabeth must have been more fatigued than she thought, because she didn't notice Percy and Reyna running over until Percy had yelled. She proceeded to follow the two down to the main area.

Anika glanced up, eyes narrowing at the three. "And what are you going to do? If you didn't notice, I don't listen to campers," She said it as if she was saying Donald Trump.

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to yawn again. She really thought she deserved at least nap if a break was too much. "I hate to break it to you, but our camp, our rules. Break it up."

"Well, you can take your 'camp rules,' and shove it—"

Anika didn't get to finish. Before she could finish her statement, she had vanished, and a dolphin lay in her place instead, squeaking and flopping about.

Mr. D sighed dramatically, trudging over and nudging the dolphin with his foot. "I swear, Artemis's hunters can cause quite a scene." He looked up at the group in front of him and rose a single hand.

"Hello, Romans, welcome to Camp Half-Blood since your precious home has been blocked by some strange force thing," Mr. D drawled out in a bored tone. "I am Dionysus, or whatever you brats call my Roman counterpart.

The Romans were quickly on their knees, bowing down to the god in front of them, while most of the Greeks wrinkled their noses in disgust and rolled their eyes. Annabeth herself tried her best not to gag.

"Reyna, don't bow. Just don't," Percy whispered way before the daughter of Bellona made a single movement.

"Peter Johnson! Quit your yabbering while I'm speaking!" Mr. D barked, glaring their way. "Unless you'd also like to be a dolphin!"

Anika the dolphin squeaked at the wine god. Mr. D ignored her the same way he ignored everyone snd everything.

"Anyway, what was I saying before I was rudely interrupted?" Mr. D snapped his fingers, the empty wine glass in his free hand quickly filling up with his usual choice of Diet Coke. He took a sip, before remembering. "Ah yes, the Romans. Romans, you'll be staying in the cabin of your godly parent's Greek counterpart. If your godly parent has no Greek counterpart then that's your problem, not mine. Find some other cabin to stay in, but don't you even think about doing anything," Mr. D narrowed his eyes. "You'll become a leopard print rug, got it?"

Mumbles of agreement could be heard from the crowd.

"Good. Lights out at 10:00 PM sharp," Mr. D turned to Grover. "Mr. Undershirt! Give me the demon satyr, it must rest now."

"Underwood, sir," Grover corrected, handing Chuck over to the god.

"Undershirt, Underwood, same thing. It's under something. Now goodnight, brats."

Anika the dolphin shrieked at the god, flopping and flailing about.

Mr. D rolled his eyes, snapping his fingers and a flustered Anika was once again human. The hunter got up, muttering more things in Hindi and brushing herself off.

"Wait," Annabeth stood up, eyes narrowing at the god. "That's it? That's all you're going to say? What about the rogue demigods? And the marks?"

Mr. D waved it off once again. "It'll go away on it's own, Annabelle. Nothing to be concerned about. A bunch of rogue demigods is certainly no problem, and the little marky stuff will likely go away on it's own. Not a big deal whatsoever. Now quit bugging me."

Of course, at that exact moment Will had made a sound like he was being choked, falling to his hands and knees.

"Will?" Lou Ellen immediately stood up, right by his side in two seconds flat. "Will, oh my gods,"

Will didn't answer. He gagged again, shuddering and coughing violently, what seemed to be blood spilling from his mouth and dripping onto the ground.

"HEY! QUIT STANDING THERE AND GET SOME AMBROSIA AND NECTAR!" Nico shouted, clenching his fists.

Cordelia freaked, quickly rummaging through her bag frantically while Teresa stared at her half brother in shock. "We can't, we've already given him a lot an hour ago, more would just burn him up!"

"Then do something else!" Nico demanded, voice cracking and fists turning white.

Annabeth watched as both Roman and Greek children of Apollo got straight to work, helping their cabin counselor to the infirmary as fast as possible, Lou Ellen and Nico trailing not to far behind them.

Mr. D was silent for a while, before finally stating, "Well? What are you brats waiting for? Get ready for bed, it's almost ten. Chop chop! We'll discus these matters in the morning." He then turned his heel and marched off, as if a single thing didn't happen.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. If he seriously thought she was going to wait until morning to find answers, then he really was crazy.


	13. Chapter 13

**A** **N** **N** **A** **B** **E** **T** **H**

"Hello? _Annabeth_ _?"_ Rachel's tired voice rang through the phone speaker. "Why are you calling me at, like—" Rachel had paused, seeming to take a look at her nearest clock, "—one in the morning. Shouldn't you be sleeping? And I thought demigods couldn't use phones. Did the Hephaestus cabin finish those prototypes already?"

"No," Annabeth quietly paced her cabin, careful not to wake her half siblings. She rummaged through her bag, making sure she had everything she needed on the short trip. "They're still trying to work on them, this is my normal phone."

Malcolm had made a sudden snort, shifting his position. Annabeth froze in her place, staring at her half brother and narrowing her eyes, waiting for him to do anything else. Instead, Malcolm continued his snoring, not moving again. "That's right Malcolm, don't wake up. Keep on dreaming about whatever you're dreaming about," Annabeth whispered, proceeding to put another item in her bag.

"Annabeth? What was that?"

Annabeth shook her head, "Just Malcolm, don't worry about— I'm getting off track. Rachel, I need a favor from you. It may involve a little sneaking out."

Annabeth didn't have to see Rachel to know that a sly grin was creeping up her face. "I'm always up for a little adventure. What time should I pick you up?"

\-----

"Good dragon," Annabeth muttered, creeping her way around Peleus, who was wrapped around his tree and in a deep sleep. The dragon snored, smoke coming out of it's mouth everytime it huffed. Annabeth realized how similar it looked to Malcolm in this case and she had to force down her laughter.

She made her way around the winged reptile and took another glance at Peleus. She was surprised, how he hasn't been able to catch any of the rogue demigods, Peleus was a skilled hunter, after all.

The sudden image of Peleus the dragon wearing a parka and wielding a bow came into her head and she honestly wondered how people where intimidated by her. Thankfully, no one could read minds, because that would be weird.

 _Hey_ _Annabeth_ _!_ _Whatcha_ _thinkin_ _'_ _bout_ _?_ Some innocent demigod would ask her, probably Percy.

 _Oh_ _,_ _just_ _Peleus_ _the_ _dragon_ _as_ _one_ _of_ _Artemis's_ _hunters_ _._ _Why_ _?_ She would answer, weirding that one demigod out for the rest of eternity. As for Percy, he'd probably beam and say: _I'm_ _not_ _the_ _only_ _weird_ _one_ _after_ _all_ _!_

The mind of a tired demigod was a strange one indeed. ADHD was a bizzare gift.

Speaking of ADHD, she was really getting off track, which was a rare thing for her. The rogues could be here at any moment, wielded with their poison weapons and such. No one knew what the stuff was exactly, and that honestly drove Annabeth nuts.

 _Not_ _a_ _problem_ _at_ _all_ _,_ _Annabelle_ _,_ Mr. D would probably say. _Go_ _back_ _to_ _camp_ _,_ _you_ _ungrateful_ _hero_ _brat_ _._

She thought about the four demigods who actually had the... well, she didn't really know what to call it yet. She'd just stick to sickness until she knew more about it.

There was Will Solace, who she remembered had saved her life back in the Battle of Manhattan. At the moment, he was the one with most changes, remembering what had happened few hours earlier. Annabeth smiled sadly, silently making herself a note to give him something in return.

Then there was Connor Stoll, he had also gotten harmed, but there wasn't much of a change yet, and hopefully there wasn't going to be. As much as Annabeth found Connor annoying at times, she cared about him and his brother.

Then there was Drew Tanaka. She had to admit, Drew was a huge pain. She came off rude, heartless, and inconsiderate, but after what had happened in the infirmary, Annabeth actually found herself thinking more and more about Drew, which was something Annabeth usually wouldn't do. She surprised herself when she had first began wondering about the daughter of Aphrodite.

Lastly, was Percy Jackson. The awkward seaweed brain who always made her smile and feel relaxed. She didn't know what to think when she heard he got injured, hearing Piper screaming for him to stay awake and seeing him and the other two laying in the blood red snow. She nearly lost it then, she didn't know what she'd do when the other effects begin kicking in...

"Annabeth," a presence behind her suddenly said. Annabeth's eyes widened,  expecting the worst. She spun on her heel, wielding her dragon bone sword she had received from Damasen in Tartarus and pointed it at the throat of Thalia Grace.

The daughter of Zeus held her hands up in surrender, stepping back. "Whoa, whoa, calm down, just me."

"Thalia?" Annabeth frowned, lowering her sword and stepping back, taking a look at her friend. "What are you—why'd you follow me?"

"Couldn't sleep," Thalia admitted, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her ripped jeans. "I noticed you creeping around outside, and I was honestly surprised that the harpies didn't notice yet."

"The harpies honestly don't pay much attention, I guess." Annabeth told her. It was true, the harpies seemed to get bored over the years, resorting to perching on certain trees and shrieking at anything that moved in their field of vision. They didn't move much, and when they did, they'd usually fly off to some other part of the camp and stayed there for a while. Annabeth had observed them from the windows of her cabin, usually when she couldn't rest, writing down any patterns she had noticed from the bird hybrids. After recording her data, she had realized that they had three certain times in the night; two of these times in which it was safe to attempt sneaking out.

That was, if you were stealthy enough. Surprisingly, harpies had excellent senses. They could probably hear a single twig snapping under your foot from all the way across camp.

She honestly had started this little habit as a way to get rid of boredom. She wasn't expecting to actually depend on it for something important, but what do you know, the sudden rogue demigods came into the picture and decided to screw with everyone's free time.

Thalia nodded, cocking an eyebrow. "Strange things, those bird ladies are. They're honestly pretty annoying and crazy, I don't see why they're needed."

"Hey, don't be like that. There's Ella, she's not annoying, and she's definitely far from rabid. Sure, she may babble about some things that don't make sense to some at times, but she's nothing bad."

Thalia glanced up at the waxing crescent moon in the sky, barely shining it's moonlight down onto the earth. "Yeah, you're right about that."

After not even a minute, Thalia's attention immediately snapped right back to Annabeth. "Alright, Chase. Enough small talk and let's get down to business. What are you even doing out here. And I swear if you answer me with some hubristic reply like, ' _oh_ _yeah_ _,_ _I_ _can_ _totally_ _take_ _the_ _bastards_ _,'_ then I'm going to—"

"Thalia! Take it easy. I'm not going to storm out and try fighting them on my own. That's absolutely reckless. Who do you think I am? Percy?" Annabeth huffed, not bothering to hide fact she was offended. "I'm meeting up with Rachel so we could find more information about... the marks."

Thalia flung her arms up, sighing in relief. "Thank the gods, for a second I actually thought you had lost your mind and were going after them."

"Ahaha, no. It'd be absolutely pointless without a plan laid out first." Annabeth took a look at her wristwatch, frowning at it. "She should be here by now."

This grabbed the hunter's attention. "Who? The Rachel girl?"

"Yeah. Rachel Dare, the Oracle, remember?"

"Oh,"

Thalia wasn't so great around people she didn't know very well. She and Rachel never really talked much. Annabeth patted her shoulder. "You'll be fine, you two are surprisingly very alike. Stubborn and headstrong."

"Is that an insult or compliment?"

Annnabeth shrugged, "I guess both could work, though—" The daughter of Athena's voice was drowned out by the sound of an engine running. Annabeth turned her head in time to see a nice Mercedes park right in an empty clearing. Both girls watched as the windows rolled down and the head of Rachel Dare poked out, grinning at the two.

"Sorry. Sneaking a nice car like this from my parents was harder than it seemed," Rachel apologized, still beaming at the two.

"Damn," Annabeth turned to look at Thalia, who's jaw had dropped in awe. "That's a... wow."

"Nice car, I know. Not that big of a deal." Rachel quickly made her way out of the car, slinging a bag over her shoulder as she shut the car. Annabeth then realized Rachel was still in her pajamas; a long sleeved shirt, pajama pants with obvious specks of paint, and moccasins.

Rachel seemed to notice her gaze and shrugged, looking down at herself. "What? It saves more time when I sneak back in and, it's hella warm."

Annabeth frowned. "I should've thought of that... nevermind, nevermind, that doesn't matter right now. Rachel, you said there's a whole bunch of old books in there you've never read?"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure some may have the answer to whatever the hell that dark stuff is. For all I know, maybe they have the cure too. I've heard its pretty rare though, but we gotta try."

From the corner of her eye, Annabeth noticed Thalia had gone pale. Annabeth glanced at her and decided to take a lucky guess. "Did a hunter or more get it too?"

Thalia looked down at her combat boots. "Yeah, I'm a little worried for them. Hunters couldn't ever catch illnesses and such, but now this stupid thing is spreading like wildfire and for the first time I'm actually afraid for their health." She stuffed her hands in the pocket of her jacket and kicked a small pebble. "We still don't know what happened to Olivia."

 _Or_ _Cecil_ _._ _Or_ _Dakota_ _._ _Or_ _Miranda_ _._ _Or_ _the_ _rest_ _of_ _those_ _still_ _frozen_ _behind_ _the_ _borders_ _Camp_ _Jupiter_ _._ _Or_ _the_ _nymphs_ _themselves,_ _trapped_ _in_ _a_ _state_ _of_ _comatose_ _for_ _who_ _knows_ _how_ _long_ _._

Rachel glanced back and forth at the two, looking confused. "Who?"

"One of the hunters." Annabeth replied.

"She was a great hunter," Thalia muttered. "Very skilled and had a lot of potential. I don't know what's happening to her at the moment but I don't think it's good. Maybe she's dead for all I know."

 _Or_ _,_ _she's_ _a_ _sacrifice_ _for_ _some_ _other_ _stupid_ _deity_ _,_ Annabeth thought bitterly. _Who_ _even_ _knows_ _what_ _those_ _tyrants_ _want_ _to_ _do_ _with_ _those_ _half-bloods_ _._ _Apparently_ _not_ _the_ _gods_ _,_ _since_ _it_ _doesn't_ _seem_ _too_ _serious to_ _them_ _._

" _'_ _It's_ _not_ _even_ _that_ _serious_ _,'_ _they_ _said, 'oh_ _no_ _Kronos_ _is_ _awake_ _oops_ _,'_ _they_ _said_ _."_ Annabeth had to force down a chuckle, remembering what Percy had said a while back.

"Oh, sorry about that." Rachel had finally said after a minute of silence.

The Lieutenant shook her head and looked up, electric blue eyes suddenly bright with determination. "Don't. It's not your fault. All we have to do is find the cause of the stupid sickness or whatever the hell it is. Dare, lead the way."

"I thought you'd never ask. Let's go."

\-----

"Welcome, to my other _casa_ ," Rachel stood at the front of the entrance of her small cavern, smiling proudly. "I'd say cave in spanish, but I didn't learn it yet," The redhead admitted, not even a bit sheepish.

Annabeth examined the cave. It had been a while since she had been there, though it seemed like there were no changes. A purple stringed curtain hung over the entrance, lavender beads decorated on every string, each bead at equal distance away from one another.

"Nice," Thalia said, a bored tone in her voice. "can we now get down to business?"

"Yeah, yeah, just hold on," Rachel made her way towards the cave entrance, pressing her hand on what seemed to be an invisible barrier, now that Annabeth took a closer look. She muttered a few words in latin, causing the thin green barrier to retreat. Once she was finished,  Rachel strolled casually into the darkness.

Annabeth and Thalia both exchanged quick glances towards each other, the two girls silently debating if they should follow or not.

"Geez, you guys are slow. Catch up," Rachel huffed, the sound of footsteps stopping and her voice echoing as it bounced off the cavern walls.

"I don't know... I'm not a huge fan of all the cavey stuff and small spaces..." Thalia trailed on. Annabeth didn't find herself that surprised. Zeus and Poseidon owned huge, empty domains with much space; of course their children wouldn't feel as comfortable in places like these.

Rachel obviously didn't seem to know that. "Oh come on, it's not even that bad. Just get over here."

After a minute or two, the half-bloods trudged into the cavern, footsteps echoing through the darkness. All three girls made their way into dimly lit room, candles hanging from the cave walls, the green flames dancing. Surprisingly, the place looked pretty comfortable for a cave. A nice, soft looking purple rug splayed out on the cold stone ground, right next to it sat a few comfy looking bean bags. Rachel's own artwork decorated the walls, giving the cave a more brighter feel.

A small grin appeared on Annabeth's face, remembering her time on the _Argo_ _II_ when Hazel had showed Annabeth some of her artwork and even taught her a few things. Rachel and Hazel would definitely be friends.

What really caught her eye was the bookshelves, filled with many different books. Beside said book shelf, boxes full of what seemed to be old books and papers were placed around it. "Are those—"

"Books, papers, and scrolls from the attic of the Big House? Yeah, that's exactly what they are." Rachel answered, walking over and nudging one of the boxes with her foot. "There's a whole bunch of these about many different things. There's old mythology stories, spells, potions and witchcraft, history, medical stuff, blah blah blah. I had Malcolm help me with sorting out all this crap, so thankfully, it's organized and we can find what we need faster. Unfortunately, half of this stuff is in Latin—" The host of the Oracle glanced up at the two Greek demigods, frowning. "—and last time I checked, you two are Greek demigods."

"Who knows, maybe I have Roman blood in my family too," Annabeth snorted, thinking back to when she and Magnus—her cousin and also a fellow Norse demigod—had met up a while back.

The two other girls blinked, heads turning in Annabeth's direction. _"Too?"_

Annabeth sighed, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. She wasn't really in the mood to explain that whole crazy story. Besides, that wasn't even the main issue for the Romans and Greeks. It was definitely not the time to drop the Norse bomb and send the whole camp into a shrieking confused mess when they already had their own problems, no matter how unimportant they seemed to the gods. "That's not important at the moment, it's an unbelievably long story."

Thalia gave her a look that probably said _the hell you mean not important you freaking brat_ , but Rachel only shrugged, sauntering over to the labeled boxes. She picked up the smallest one which had _magic_ carelessly scribbled on the cardboard. She then proceeded to push the other bigger box over to the others with her foot. The larger box also had careless handwriting that took Annabeth a few seconds to unscramble. Dyslexia sure was a pain, but she finally was able to see the box read _medicine._

"I don't think the Apollo or Hecate kids would mind if we just took a look through this stuff, even though Will did tell me he wanted them spotless." Rachel shrugged it off, setting the box down onto the floor and dropping herself onto one of the bean bags. "Oh well."

Annabeth didn't really hear what Rachel said, she just made a mad dash for the box, surprising herself as she tore through the pages of the book, rapidly analyzing and taking in every single word written on each thin page. Thalia was quickly by her side, taking out another book from one of the boxes and also skimming through it. Rachel had already grabbed a book, eyebrows furrowed and face set in a serious expression. It took a while, all three girls tossing every finished book into a single pile. It started off simple, a few books here and there, until the three begun to grow frantic, raiding other boxes of books and the pile grew taller and bigger, until there were only a few books and scrolls to read.

Annabeth huffed, resisting the urge to tear up the scroll in her hands. They were basically done with everything in those boxes, yet there was not a single thing about this stuff. The daughter of Athena let out a deep breath, hand clenched around the last paper relaxing a bit. Hopefully, Rachel and Thalia found something that could maybe, just maybe, be useful. She craned her neck towards the two. "Anything?"

"Not a thing," Thalia muttered between gritted teeth, slamming the book closed with sparking hands. Clearly, the daughter of Zeus was agitated. "Rachel?"

"Nada," Rachel yawned from her spot, eyes drooping.

 Annabeth felt her heart sink in disappointment. Well, there went all her hopes, dreams, and expectations. 

Thalia snorted, anger written on her face. "Great, this is just great. How in the world are we going to get rid of this stupid sickness if we don't know what it is or what it's doing? The only thing we know about the illness is that it's caused by some poison or something, and we don't even know what that is either! Not to mention, not a single god probably gives a crap about this when in reality this is probably something they could easily fix! But no, they just have to expect us to do everything for them while they just do nothing and sit around on their lazy fu—"

"Hey, check this out," Rachel interrupted Thalia's raging, holding up at a small torn piece of paper that so happened to fall out of the book she was reading. "it seems to be something in Ancient Greek," Annabeth reached over, snatching the paper from the redhead's grasp and taking a closer look. 

" _The Ichor Curse, started by what's known as Stygian Venom, created by water of the River Styx, the blood of_ —" The daughter of Athena paused, eyes narrowing at the torn part of the paper. "Alright, this part was torn out."

"Stygian Venom? Seriously, that's the name? Sounds like something some emo fourteen year old would make up." Thalia snorted from beside her. 

Rachel laughed. "Oh gods, that mental image though,"

 _"Mother, it's not a phase!"_ Thalia cackled.

"Shut it you two, this is serious." Annabeth snapped, annoyed by how the two girls were acting. "This might be what we were looking for this whole time."

"Sorry, sorry, but _just imagine it,_ "

"Thalia!"

"Alright, alright!" Thalia chuckled weakly, a smug grin on her face. The daughter of Zeus pulled herself together, putting on a serious look. "Continue,"

"Yes, Annabeth Chase, continue," a feminine voice hissed, hatred dripping from her tone. The daughter of Athena's head snapped up, staring straight ahead at a hungry looking empousa. The vampire girl glared at Annabeth and Thalia. "Continue, if you want me to have a better reason to tear your vocal cords out and present them to Lord August on a silver tray."

Annabeth immediately wielded her drakon bone sword, eyes narrowing at the empousa. So her theory was indeed correct, and the rogues had somehow sealed a deal with some monsters. Thalia had her bow out in a split second, arrow already aimed at the heart of the empousa. "Rachel, stay back,"

The empousa only grinned. "Ah, I see I've got your attention. Well, yes indeed. What you have there Chase is in fact the source of all the madness you poor, poor demigods are experiencing. And soon, just soon, the Olympians will fall, along with them you will all fall too, and Lord August will rule—" 

The empousa was abruptly interrupted by the firing of a gun, and the sudden celestial bronze bullet buried right between her eyes. The demon girl let out a wail, freezing in her spot exploding into nothing but gold dust.

"Ugh, you ramble way too much." The two demigods turned to Rachel Elizabeth Dare, both their eyes widening and jaws dropping in surprise at the sudden gun locked tightly in her grasp. A grin quickly crept up the mortal girl's face as she examined the gun. "Holy crap, that was awesome! I'm getting so good at this."

"What? How? Huh?" Thalia whispered, staring at her in awe. Annabeth opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a strange whine of disbelief.

"When you've got a rich family like me, you've got to be prepared at all times." Rachel stated, still grinning widely.

"Well, well, the mortal shot an empousa, what an accomplishment." Slow claps echoed through the small cave, and a the form of a teenage boy hidden behind a black cloak made his into the room, quiet footsteps being heard as the boy's boots scuffed against the stone ground. 

"Now if she's not scared, lets see how The Oracle would do battling against my little friends and _I_ ," The hood came off, revealing the face of all their problems. "August Deus, or _Lord August_ , to you."


	14. Chapter 14

**A** **N** **N** **A** **B** **E** **T** **H**

So this was the guy. The root of all evil.

Annabeth's hand tightened around the drakon bone sword in her grip, eyes narrowing. August Deus—the arrogant son of a bitch—seemed about eighteen, with tan skin, light brown hair, and dark blue eyes.

The three girls stared at him, silence the only thing accompanying them. August smiled, clearly amused. "Speechless?"

"Augustus Waters, go back to your book," Rachel muttered under her breath.

August chuckled, turning his attention to Rachel. "I've been told I've had that resemblance, mortal. But anywho, that's clearly not what we're discussing," The rogue demigod turned his attention back to all three of the girls. "what we're discussing is The Ichor Curse, and what it does, since clearly that small little paper won't provide much information,"

Annabeth tightened her grip on the paper, still keeping a steady glare on August. She knew he probably had all the answers to their problems, but at the moment all she really wanted to do was maybe stab him a few times.

That would relieve some stress and anger.

"And?" Annabeth hissed through gritted teeth. "What's the catch?"

August snorted, standing straighter.  "Demanding, are we? There's no catch, I'm just here to deliver some information. Seeing you all so confused has been breaking my heart recently, so I decided to speed the process up a bit.

"This is a rare one, _ichor in maledictionem_ ," August continued speaking as if he was telling a speech to a crowd of his supporters, with squared shoulders and his head raised. A small grin was on his face as he started the three girls down. "A powerful, quick working curse that can quickly send even the most peaceful into a violent, impulsive beast."

Annabeth scowled, clenching her fists so tight her knuckles quickly turned white. This guy was freaking psychotic.

August sighed, his twisted grin widening as his eyes shined with amusement. "It's amazing, you know, seeing how fast one who once had power can crumble in a matter of time," He seemed to be gazing at Thalia, a knowing smirk on his face. "Isn't that right, Grace? I know Alabaster cut you up pretty good,"

Annabeth's head had snapped towards the Daughter of Zeus, who had stepped back in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"That's right, it works on you _immortals_ too. Isn't that amazing?" August chuckled, running a hand through his hair. He didn't seem to care whatsoever.

"Wait, you have it?" Rachel had whirled around, staring at Thalia in alarm and worry.

It took her a while, but Thalia nodded slowly, not taking her gaze away from August. "Alright, asshole, cut the crap. Who are you exactly?"

August's grin became a smug smirk, and he stood straighter than before. "August Deus, the all great and powerful lord. I think that's all you have to know."

Annabeth had to refrain from rolling her eyes. This was just great. The daughter of Athena shortly realized that he had avoided an important part of his identity. The question came out of her mouth before she even thought twice.

"Who's your godly parent?"

That caused a memorable reaction. His face immediately twisted into an expression of anger, his good mood vanishing. "That's not important," He hissed, an obvious snarl on his face.

Annabeth cocked an eyebrow, many questions and theories already flooding her brain and her thoughts.

Rachel didn't seem to take that as a good enough answer. The redhead took a step forword, cocking her gun. "Sorry, good sir, but I believe it is a pretty important question. We need to know who hurt your fragile little heart."

August turned to face Rachel, a snarl on his face. "You better watch your mouth, you filth. You're nothing but a _mortal_ and trust me, I could snap you in half with my bare hands."

"You're lucky I still haven't put a bullet in your head," Rachel hissed. "I honestly think I should though."

August snorted at Rachel. "If you do, your friends die. Solace, Stoll, Tanaka, Jackson, _her_ ," He pointed a finger in Thalia's direction, a smug smile on his face. "and everyone of you in both camps, both groups. You demigods need me. Why? Because I'm the only one with the information on the cure.

"And don't even think that The Ichor Curse is minor, oh no, it's far from minor. It starts off slow, traveling into your bloodstream. But that's when it goes into your brain, affecting it in many ways. Hallucinations, mood swings, violent urges, et cetera. It also burns through internal organs. But it's slow, it takes longer to actually burn through it, but that means more pain, more _agony_ , more triumph—well, at least for me," August finished off with a cruel smile, watching the girls intently.

"You're freaking crazy. Absolutely insane." Annabeth scowled.

"Geniuses are often mistaken as insane. It's sad how some think," That was August's only reply. He glanced back at Annabeth. "Come on, you know I'm right. The gods don't even know. If they did, I'd be dead. And even if they did know, they couldn't do anything. I'm protected, after all, by the concealed one. The shadow lord."

" _Shadow_ _lord_?" Rachel repeated, obvious confusion written on her face.

"Hades...?" Thalia muttered. She glared up at August. "You're really _that_ desperate to be edgy?"

Annabeth was expecting him to chuckle or something along those lines. In a quick second, August had Thalia by the wrist, his other hand pressing a dagger against her throat.

"Hey! Unhand me you—" Thalia made a sound of disgust and protest, her arm suddenly sparking with electricity. August only tightened his hold—unfased somehow—digging the dagger into her skin.

Annabeth had her drakon bone sword out in a blink of an eye, twirling it as a sudden, yet effective strategy was already being planned.

"Let go or I shoot," Rachel cocked the gun up, aiming right at his head.

"You're lucky I need you, _Grace_ ," He hissed, not seeming to care much for the two armed girls behind him. "and you should be a little more careful, _names_ _have_ _powe_ r. Great, great power."

Thalia spat right at his face.

August let go of Thalia, disgust and anger on his face. "How unsanitary," He hissed, wiping the saliva off his face and sending the daughter of Zeus a cold glare.

Thalia simply grinned smugly, stepping back. "Oops,"

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood, Grace,"  He snarled. "Or I would've done something very bad," His snarl vanished quickly when he noticed something on her face. "but I don't have to, The stygian venom is already doing it for me. By the way, your nose is bleeding."

That wiped the smug smile right of Thalia's face. She put her hand under her nose, pulling it back to see, of course, blood. But this blood didn't look normal. It came out black, with a less obvious purple tint.

"So's your ear," Rachel added, her face growing pale.

Sure enough, blood was dripping from the side of her face, right from her left ear. Thalia clamped her hand over her ear, her eyes widening. "What—" she didn't get to finish her sentence. She made a strange gurgling noise, before coughing. She scrambled back, violently coughing into the crook of her arm. She pulled her arm away, eyes widening when she saw the blood coating her arm.

"Oh hell no," The lieutenant muttered, staggering a bit. Her eyes seemed to glaze, making it seem she had a distant look. "Oh, no, no, no—"

"Thalia—?" Rachel trailed on, uncertainty in her tone. "Oh gods, Thalia!"

Thalia's knees buckled, causing her to crash to the floor. Well, at least without the help of Annabeth she would've. Annabeth flew to her side before she hit the ground, helping her stand. Thalia mumbled a weak "thanks".

"Huh, it's working faster than I thought," August mused. He chuckled to himself. "It must be hell for Jackson then,"

That caught Annabeth's attention. All the shock and disbelief she felt was whisked away by a surge of anger. Anyone who tried messing with him or anyone else she loved would have to deal with her wrath first. "What about Percy?" She challenged, clenching her fists. "What'd you do to him?"

August didn't answer, he just laughed, laughs becoming cackles and bouncing right off the cave walls, echoing. He just cackled, and cackled, not seeming to care or remember that the three girls were still there.

"I'm shooting him," Rachel declared, raisng the gun.

"Don't, he's the only one with the cure," Thalia grunted.

"What if he's bluffing?" Rachel hissed quietly.

"I don't know, but whatever you do, do _not_ shoot him yet."

Annabeth honestly hopped Rachel would just pull the trigger, but Thalia did have a point. If they killed him off they wouldn't know where or how to get the cure.

"Glad to see you've been hit with a little common sense, Grace." August smiled sweetly, finally calming down. He turned his head and smiled at Annabeth, a smile full of nothing but poison. "And to answer your question, Chase, I did nothing to him. You'll have to ask a little servant of mine, his name's Randy. A bit of a druggie, but a fine fighter." With that, August made a diagonal slashing gesture across the air.

Annabeth remembered when Frank and Reyna had spoke about when they were taken, and Frank kept scowling everytime the name Randy was spoken.  
It was pretty obvious that the Randy that had helped take them was the same person that stabbed Percy and Connor.

Now Annabeth was really conflicted. She wasn't sure if she should've took the gun from Rachel and shot him herself, or if she'd just let him be to soak more information out of that arrogant head of his.

"Don't think too much about it, Chase. Your boyfriend and friends will be totally fine," August drawled, careless like usual. "Well, I mean if you give them enough painkillers. Ambrosia and nectar don't really work the way you'd want them too."

 _Go_ _fling_ _yourself_ _off_ _the_ _side_ _of_ _a_ _building_ , Annabeth thought bitterly.

August took a quick look at his wrist, a black watch with what seemed to be Imperial Gold was fastened on it. He signed, "Oh dear, I've been wasting a lot of time..." He smiled at each and everyone of the girls. "Well, I have important business I must attend."

"Like what? Slaughtering kittens?" Rachel scoffed.

August thought for a moment. "If you consider your demgod friends as kittens, maybe. But don't feel too bad for them, they're doing a great thing, not only for my army, but the world too. They don't see it now but trust me, they will."

"Go rot," Thalia hissed, still looking very sickly. Color was quickly draining from her face and she was growing heavier in Annabeth's grip.

"Oh, I've done my rotting," August replied sotftly. "And I can't afford to see when the world has to, after what the Olympians have done to it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way. It was nice discussing with you." He turned his attention to Annabeth. "And Chase, if you'd like to keep your friends at least _slightly_ free of pain, you should let them have these." With that, he tossed a small object her way.

Rachel was the one who got her hands around it. She frowned, opening her palm to reveal the small _Advil_ bottle.

" _Au_ _revior_ _,_ and hopefully next time we meet, it won't be on the battle field." With that, August turned, making his way out of the cave.

"Good... riddance..." Thalia managed. Annabeth would've went after him if she could, but Thalia was in major need of a medic, so all she could do was stand with her injured friend.

"Oh, hell no." Rachel, on the other hand, had launched into action, chasing right after him and cocking her gun. "Hey, get back here you—"

She had quieted, the sound of her footsteps quieting. Annabeth could vaguely hear her cursing from outside of the cave, before she had finally trudged back into the cave.

"He's gone, he just vanished into thin air." Rachel muttered, looking disappointed. "And to think I almost got him."

That was when Thalia suddenly jerked away from Annabeth with surprising speed, falling to her hands and knees and making a strangle gurgling noise, blood basically dripping from her mouth. Thalia didn't seem to be too phased about it either. She took a look at the blood she had coughed up, reacting with, "Black, like... _Stygian_ _Venom_ ," and broke out into a giggling fit.

"It doesn't matter now," Annabeth answered quickly, not even really taking in what Rachel had said.  She was too worried about Thalia, who was probably losing it. "We have to get back to Camp. Fast."

\-----

Cecil was not a fan of being roughly manhandled against his will. Then again, he didn't think anyone was. Unless it was some strange kink thing he would rather not know of.

"Hey, hey! Have some freaking manners!" Cecil snapped as he was yanked to his feet by two of those damned rogue demigods. He squirmed, flailing and kicking at the two, but his protests didn't do much, it only got him a slap across the face from the blond one. Cecil's breath hitched involuntarily as stinging pain spread across his face, his hand flying up to where he was hit.

"Shut it, brat." The blond guy hissed, his breath reeking of cigarettes. "I suggest you be smart and keep your mouth shut."

Cecil would've gladly retaliated, something like: _Eat_ _a_ _snickers, they_ _work_ _better_ _than_ _cigarettes_ _,_ but his voice was caught in his throat, and he couldn't seem to utter out a single word. He could only make a weak grunt.

"Come on, we got a special job for you today." The blonde one—Randy or something like that—declared, keeping a tight grip on his arm as he and the other guy dragged Cecil through the halls.

"Oh goodie," Cecil huffed, remembering the fourty eight hours in the dark maze with the cyclops and nothing but a carving knife. Cecil shuddered, the mimicked wails of those he loved still ringing in his ears few days later.

Randy patted Cecil's shoulder with his free hand. "You get to be our little... message man. Just like your dad! Isn't that great?"

" _Peachy_ ," Cecil grumbled.

Randy and the other nameless dude led him to a grand doorway, which was surprisingly nice looking, styled like the door to olympus, except a deep dark gray with gold patterns. It looked better than the hellhole he was stuck in, that's for sure.

But what surprised Cecil the most was the loud cheering from inside the doors. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused. _Some_ _sort_ _of_ _part_ y? That's when the paranoia kicked in, and he realized maybe they were going to kill him.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Cecil muttered to himself, trying to squirm away again. The iron grip on his arm only tightened, nails digging into his skin. The son of Hermes hissed.

"Quit your struggling," The dreamy, soft voice of that creepy Morpheus girl droned, relaxing and quiet. The girl, Penelope or _whatever_ , was standing right by the door. She gave Cecil a smile, "It won't do much, just make you real tired anyway."

Cecil wanted to punch her.

Cecil wanted to punch all of them.

 _One_ _Punch_ _Cecil_ would be a great anime. He didn't know why he was thinking about anime in a time like this. He never even watched One Punch Man.

"Anyway," Penelope drawled, turning around and opening the grand doors, the wild cheering and whooping suddenly drastically growing louder. And Cecil could see why.

He was brought out into what appeared to be a huge sort of stadium looking area, with an arena a little bigger than a basketball court. Both demigods and monsters sat on the stands, screaming and chanting, stomping their feet against the ground. Except this wasn't a stadium, it was more like a smaller, Roman style arena. And there was no basketball game, just two figures in the center of the arena. With a jolt, Cecil realized that an old school Gladiator battle was happening right then.

And one person on that field was very familiar.

Cecil recognized the average sized girl with dirty blonde hair, avoiding the jabs of the other demigod with long vines sprouting out of the stone floor, using said vines as a barrier while she hacked and slashed at her attacker with the celestial bronze axe.

" _Miranda_ ," Cecil whispered, his eyes widening. Miranda was usually peaceful, and wasn't much of a fighter, unless you counted the pranks the Hermes kids would pull on her cabin some times, when she was mad, it was terrifying. Now, she looked almost rabid, violently attacking and using any means to attack the other person. And to his horror, it was working too.

Miranda had finally found the demigods weak spot, slashing them across the chest and kicking them in the knee, while a vine snagged their other leg and yanked them forward. The other demigod finally crumpled, falling right on their back and letting out a scream of pain when a loud _SNAP_ could be heard in the wild arena. Their leg looked seriously dislocated, and it seemed to be over for them. That didn't affect the crowd; it only made the roaring grow louder. The bloodlust was obvious, and terrifying as hell.

"No, Miranda..." Cecil breathed, his eyes glued to her as she walked towards the fallen demigod, twirling the axe in the air with a bloodthirsty smile on her face. She raised her head, gazing at the crowd for their decision. Life, or Death.

The crowd roared, arms raised as they signed a thumbs down, screaming for her to end the kid's life. To end her time as a hero.

She raised her axe in the air, and thats when Cecil noticed the dark purple mark on her wrist.

They were going to make her into a murderer.

"Miranda, stop... Miranda!" Cecil yelled, growing anxious and desperate. He lurched forward, doing anything he could to break away from his captors. "Miranda stop! STOP!"

Randy grabbed Cecil by the jaw, ignoring his squirming around and his pleads. He forced Cecil to watch, a cold grin on his face "Watch closely, message man, this one's for you."

"Let go of me you— MIRANDA! NO!" Cecil's rasped, voice hoarse.

The daughter of Demeter gave no attention to her friend. She grasped the axe with both hands, aimed, and finally brought it down on the injured demigod.

Cecil could only close his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

**N** **I** **C** **O**

_Nico_ _knew demigod dreams. He's had his fair share of them. They all had._

_Demigod_ _dreams_ _could_ _come_ _off_ _as_ _two_ _things_ _and_ _two_ _things_ _only_ _._ _Weird_ _,_ _or_ _downright_ _terrifying_ _._

 _Nico_ _was_ _cursed_ _with_ _the_ _second_ _one_ _._

 _The_ _son_ _of_ _Hades_ _found_ _himself_ _standing_ _in_ _the_ _empty_ _throne_ _room_ _of_ _Olympus_ _._ _Instantly_ _,_ _he_ _noticed_ _the_ _differences_ _._

 _The_ _marble_ _floor_ _and_ _pillars_ _were_ _no_ _longer_ _pearl_ _white_ _,_ _but_ _an_ _ebony_ _shade_ _._ _Where_ _the_ _thrones_ _stood_ _were_ _only_ _huge_ _piles_ _of_ _rubble_ _._ _The_ _dome_ _overhead_ _that_ _projected_ _the_ _many_ _constellations_ _stitched_ _onto_ _the_ _night_ _sky_ _was_ _now_ _a_ _vast_ _blanket_ _of_ _darkness_ _,_ _no_ _sign_ _of_ _a_ _single_ _star_ _._ _The_ _only_ _thing_ _that_ _accompanied_ _Nico_ _in_ _the_ _eerie_ _silence_ _was_ _the_ _crackling_ _of_ _the_ _fire_ _in_ _the_ _middle_ _of_ _the_ _throne_ _room_ _,_ _and_ _it_ _wasn't_ _much_ _either_ _._ _Weak_ _,_ _thin_ _flames_ _barely_ _lit_ _up_ _the_ _whole_ _dark_ _hall_ _._

 _Then_ _, a_ _quick_ _glimpse_ _of_ _gold_ _caught_ _Nico's_ _eye_ _in_ _the_ _darkness._ _Right_ _across_ _from_ _him_ _,_ _where_ _the_ _massive_ _throne_ _of_ _Zeus_ _stood_ _before_ _it_ _was_ _reduced_ _to_ _rubble_ _,_ _was_ _now_ _a_ _mortal_ _sized_ _throne_.

 _Nico's_ _curiosity_ _got_ _the_ _best_ _of_ _him_ _,_ _and_ _before_ _he_ _knew_ _it_ _he_ _was_ _slowly_ _drawing_ _his_ _sword_ _,_ _advancing_ _towards_ _the_ _single_ _throne_ _with_ _silent_ _footsteps_ _,_ _moving_ _like_ _a_ _shadow_ _._

 _Of course, that was until his foot hit some freaking duffel bag in the middle of the throne room and he lost his balance._ _Nico_ _quickly recovered from the sudden surprise,_ _pressing_ _his foot on the marble and twisting himself_ _around_. _The_ _son_ _of_ _Hades_ _hit_ _the_ _cold_ _floor_ _with_ _a_ _loud_ _thud_ , _the_ _loud_ _sound_ _echoing_ _through_ _the_ _large_ _room_ _._

 _Nico_ _winced, thankful that he didn't impale himself with his sword and quickly sat up to examine what caused his fall._ _Nico_ _was_ _pretty_ _sure_ _it_ _was_ _a_ _full duffel bag until_ _he_ _actually_ _saw_ _then shape_ _in_ _the_ _dull_ _lighting_ _._

 _It_ _wasn't_ _a_ _bag_ _,_ _but_ _a_ _teenage_ _girl_ _._

 _A_ dead _teenage_ _girl_ _._

 _Nico_ _scrambled_ _back_ _,_ _alarmed_ _by_ _the_ _sudden_ _realization_ _._ _The_ _girl_ _stared_ _back_ _at_ _him_ _with_ _blank_ _dark_ _eyes_ _,_ _and_ _for_ _a_ _second_ _he_ _thought_ _it_ _was_ _Bianca_ _,_ _until_ _he_ _noticed_ _the_ _blood stained_ _stained_ _purple_ _T-shirt_ _,_ _and_ _the_ _SPQR_ _symbol_ _of Bellona_ _on_ _her_ _arm_ _in_ _the_ _dim_ _illumination_ _._

 _Nico's_ _breath_ _hitched_ _,_ _alarm_ _filling_ _his_ _senses_ _._ _He_ _quickly_ _scrambled_ _back_ _. "_ _Oh_ _styx_ _—_ _"_

 _Today_ _wasn't_ _Nico's_ _lucky_ _day_ _._ _He_ _bumped_ _right_ _into_ _another_ _body_ _._ _The_ _son_ _of_ _Hades_ _swiveled_ _around_ _,_ _a_ _strangled_ _yelp_ _tearing_ _itself_ _from_ _his_ _throat_ _when_ _Jason's lifeless_ _blue_ _eyes_ _stared_ _up_ _at_ _him_ _._

 _"_ _Jason_ _..."_ _Nico_ _murmured_ _, his_ _heart_ _hammering_ _in_ _the_ _inside_ _of_ _chest_ _._

 _There_ _was_ _sudden_ _laughter_ _._ _Dark_ _,_ _chilling_ _laughter_ _that_ _sent_ _chills_ _down_ _his_ _spine_ _._ _Nico_ _immediately_ _stood_ _up_ _like_ _a_ _rocket,_ _automatically_ _regretting_ _it_ _when_ _he_ _finally_ _got_ _the_ _full_ _view._

 _The_ _bodies_ _of_ _nymphs_ _,_ _satyrs_ _,_ _and_ _demigods_ _were_ _scattered_ _over_ _the_ _floor_ _of_ _Olympus_ _,_ _all_ _staring_ _at_ _the_ _dark_ _ceiling_ _with_ _unseeing_ _eyes_ _._ _From_ _the_ _corner_ _of_ _his_ _eye_ _,_ _Nico_ _noticed_ _a_ _very_ _familiar_ _young_ _African_ _American_ _girl_ _with_ _a_ _violet_ _SPQR_ _shirt_ _and_ _golden_ _eyes_ _._ _and_ _his_ _stomach_ _lurched_ _._ _A_ _few_ _spaces_ _away_ _,_ _from_ _her_ _, a blond_ _boy_ _with_ _vibrant_ _blue_ _eyes_ _lay_ _,_ _a_ _dark_ _purple_ _substance_ _coating_ _his_ _mouth_ _._ _The_ _laughing_ _only_ _grew_ _louder_ _._

 _"No, not Hazel..._ _not_ _Will_ _..."_ _Nico_ _stammered_ _,_ _his_ _throat_ _dry_ _._

 _"_ _Kneel_ _before_ _me_ _,_ _Nico_ _di_ _Angelo_ _._ _Or_ _join_ _the_ _fallen_ _,"_ _a_ _deep_ _,_ _dark_ _voice_ _radiating_ _obvious_ _power_ _boomed_ _through_ _the_ _hall_ _._ _The_ _sound_ _came_ _from_ _where_ _the_ _new_ _throne_ _was_ _._

 _Nico_ _whirled_ _around_ _,_ _facing_ _the_ _small_ _human_ _sized_ _throne_ _,_ _now_ _occupied_ _._ _A_ _brunette_ _boy_ _with_ _blue_ _eyes_ _sat_ _on_ _the_ _throne_ _,_ _a_ _crown_ _of_ _what_ _seemed_ _to_ _be_ _made_ _of_ _darkness_ _circled_ _his_ _head_ _,_ _shifting_ _into_ _many_ _different_ _crowns_ _._ _Standing_ _over_ _him_ _,_ _a_ _tall_ _,_ _dark_ _shape_ _the_ _size_ _of_ _a_ _god,_ _almost_ _like_ _it_ _was_ _guarding_ _the_ _boy_ _._

 _The_ _boy_ _raised_ _his_ _head,_ _face_ _contorted_ _in_ _a_ _maniacal_ _grin_ _as_ _he_ _opened_ _his_ _eyes_ _,_ _revealing_ _one_ _normal_ _blue_ _eye_ _,_ _and_ _the_ _other_ _one_ _an_ _eerily_ _pale_ _shade_ _of_ _the_ _same_ _color_ _._ _The_ _boy_ _opened_ _his_ _mouth_ _once_ _again_ _,_ _nothing_ _but_ _a_ _strangle_ _sound_ _spilling_ _out—almost_ _like_ _a_ _record_ _player_ _on_ _rewind_ _—_ _that_ _until_ _Nico_ _realized_ _that_ _it_ _wasn't_ _just_ _a_ _bunch_ _of_ _gibberish_ _;_ _it_ _was_ _a_ _backwards_ _message_ _._ _Maybe_ _even_ _a_ _prophecy_ _._

 _"_ _The_ _world_ _will_ _be_ _plagued_ _in_ _raging_ _shadows_ _,"_ _The_ _boy_ _sneered, in the same raspy voice from before—a voice that obviously didn't_ _suit_ _a_ _teenage_ _boy_ _. "_ _and_ _you_ _,_ _Ghost_ _King_ _, can't_ _do_ _a_ _thing_ _to_ _stop_ _what_ _you_ _once_ _controlled_ _._ _This_ _is_ _my_ _domain_ _now."_

 _With_ _that_ _,_ _the_ _boy_ _snapped_ _his_ _fingers_ _._ _The_ _dark_ _shape_ _that_ _stood_ _over_ _the_ _throne_ _spread_ _out_ _quickly_ _,_ _and_ _Nico_ _immediately_ _took_ _out_ _his_ _Stygian_ _Iron_ _sword_ _until_ _he_ _realized_ _that_ _the_ _shape_ _wasn't_ _going_ _to_ _attack_ _him_ _._ _It_ _was_ _too_ _busy_ _sinking_ _into_ _the_ _walls_ _._

 _And_ _of_ _course_ _,_ _that_ _was_ _when_ _the_ _walls_ _themselves_ _began_ _to_ _shift_ _,_ _cracking_ _and_ _vanishing_ _into_ _the_ _dark_ _mist_ _._ _Nico_ _took_ _a_ _step_ _back_ _when_ _he_ _felt_ _the_ _floor_ _under_ _him_ _shake_ _._

 _The_ _boy_ _threw_ _his_ _head_ _back_ _,_ _cackling_ _hysterically_ _as_ _the_ _shadows_ _spread_ _across_ _the_ _throne_ _room,_ _darkness_ _enveloping_ _him_ _into_ _an_ _ebony_ _cocoon_ _._

 _Before_ _Nico_ _could_ _even_ _react_ _,_ _the_ _dark_ _mist_ _had quickly_ _made_ _it's_ _way_ _across_ _the_ _floor_ _,_ _and_ _there_ _was_ _a_ _sudden_ _cracking_ _noise_ _._ _Nico_ _swore_ _,_ _stepping_ _back_ _as_ _the_ _floor_ _beneath_ _him_ _gave_ _away_ _,_ _pieces_ _of_ _marble_ _either_ _falling_ _away_ _in_ _chunks_ _,_ _or_ _disintegrating_ _into_ _mere_ _mist_ _._

 _Gravity_ _took_ _immediate_ _hold_ _,_ _and_ _Nico_ _was_ _suddenly_ _free_ _falling_ _through_ _darkness_ _._

_"_ _Nico_ _."_

Nico opened his eyes, seeing the two concerned faces of Hazel and Leo staring at him. They sat by his bed in the Hades cabin, the candles of greek fire illuminating the dark cabin.

"Nico?" Hazel asked again, gold eyes shining with worry.

Nico blinked, suddenly remembering her lifeless form in the dream. He shook his head, shutting that thought away. Nico rain his hand through his hair. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Yo, you sure? You kept muttering a bunch of demonic mumbo jumbo in your sleep." Leo stated, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm _fine_ ," Nico repeated, annoyance creeping into his tone.

Leo stood, placing his hands on his hips. "Don't sass me mister," Leo said, mimicking the voice of someone of authority.

"I will sass you if I want," Nico replied in a bored tone.

Hazel laughed.

A small smile tugged at Nico's lips, but it quickly vanished. He turned to Hazel. "Hey Hazzy, what happened when I was out?"

Hazel's expression quickly turned grim, and Nico almost wished he never asked.

Leo answered instead. "You know Jason's sister, right? Apparently she, Annabeth, and Rachel were in the Athena cabin looking for information, and the two found out she had the dark mark thingy-mabob and shortly after that it kinda..." Leo whistled and twirled his finger by his temple. "She's in the infirmary now, ill. Annabeth gathered us up and informed us of it. She plans to make an announcement about it during breakfast."

Nico's blood ran cold, and he was quiet taking in the news. "But hunters _can't_ get sick." He blurted finally.

"Well apparently, now they can!" Leo exclaimed, throwing his arms out. "The laws of Mythology have been defied!"

"They found the name of the curse too," Hazel said. "They call it The Ichor Curse, and the symptoms aren't pretty."

Leo continued where Hazel stopped, attempting to sound like one of those commercials for medicine. "Side effects of The Ichor Curse may include mood swings, hallucinations, violent urges, paranoia, sudden insanity, Ebola, and a trip with Thanatos down into the Underworld. Call now, at 1-800-IAM-DYIN. That's 1-800-IAM-DYIN,"

Nico and Hazel gave him blank, annoyed stares.

Leo grinned proudly. "I regret nothing."

Hazel rolled her eyes and turned back to Nico. "The thing that's scary is tht I'm actually starting to notice the effects they're taking. Connor literally locked himself in his cabin and won't come out, Percy looked anxious all day, looking around and punching Jason yet again in the face when he startled him. Will and Drew full on cussed out Bacchus—I mean Dionysus, and Chiron had to prevent him from turning them both into dolphins."

Nico frowned, imaging Will, who was usually very polite and usually never used profanity, swearing at the god. That took major guts and stupidity. The stuff really was messing with his head.

"Will Solace, cussing out Mr. D? I have to see that," Leo grinned.

Nico shot Leo a death glare, and that shut the son of Hephaestus right up.

"They still didn't find cure, ambrosia and nectar aren't helping a single bit. It's basically useless," Hazel sighed.

"Yay," Leo said, voice emotionless.

"Don't worry too much about it. The Council of Cloven Elders are searching at this moment, trying to find anything to prevent the curse and trying to contact Nature gods about the situation. With Coach Hedge leading the search, I'm pretty sure we'll have a positive outcome in no time," Hazel said, her voice reassuring, though there was an obvious hint of doubt.

Nico frowned, wondering how Coach Hedge was dealing with the fact Mellie, his wife, was trapped in some coma. He was probably not handling it well. "I'm not surprised, I'd be pretty eager too if I could do anything to help out someone I love."

Leo wriggled his eyebrows. "Like Will?"

Nico could feel his face beginning to burn, a blush quickly spreading across his face. "Shut your dirty rat mouth. Will and I are acquaintances, stop trying to make some false romance between us." He snapped, annoyed. "Gods, I sometimes wonder why I even decided to come out to you people if you're just going to tease me about every male I make eye contact with."

"You're blushing," Leo pointed out.

"That's what happens when someone's put in an uncomfortable situation! Not like you'd know, you're always the one pestering innocents in the first place, you twat!"

Leo and Hazel simply laughed, and Nico himself had to allow a smile to appear on his face. With everything happening at the moment, it was nice to just sit down with frie— _acquaintances_ and just have a normal conversation like the usual mortal would.

The smile quickly faded when he thought of Will, remembering how sickly he had turned in a span of a few days. All Nico felt was guilt, knowing that if he didn't decide to leave the group and fall for bait, Will wouldn't have been injured, and Cecil would be still hanging around and making dumb jokes and references to everyone of his "fandoms" or whatever he called them.

And Lou Ellen would still be herself, making her usual sarcastic commentary about everything and sassing the hell out of everyone with Cecil. Now she was mostly quiet, spending her time in the Hecate cabin trying to contact Cecil or Miranda, a very close friend of hers.

Nico sighed. It was no use wishing he could change the past. Either way, the whole Ichor Curse thing would've broken out.

 _But_ _,_ the voice in his head interjected, _you'd_ _still_ _have_ _your_ _friends_ _._

No, not friends. _Acquaintances._ Friend was too strong of a word.

Even so, a good acquaintance would check up on his fellow, injured acquaintance. And maybe even bring some food too. Nico was suddenly hit with a giant bowl of realization. What even was Will's favorite food? What kind of acquaintance were you if you didn't know your other acquaintance's favorite food?

Okay, he was seriously overreacting.

"Hey, Hazzy? What's the time?" Nico asked reluctantly.

"Like," Hazel didn't even bother to ask. She grabbed Leo's arm and took a glance at the wristwatch on it, "around seven thirty, so we have a while before... cabin inspection starts?" The daughter of Pluto sent a questioning glance at Leo. "Why would you need a cabin inspection?"

"You've clearly never seen the Ares cabin," Leo answered, his lip curling back in disgust and his nostrils flaring. "You can smell the stench from there like, all the way across camp."

"You've probably never seen Percy's cabin either," Nico added, snickering a bit. "That guy's cabin can sometimes get messier than his own freaking life."

Hazel chuckled, rolling her eyes. "You guys are so mean." The daughter of Pluto turned to look at Nico. "Hey we're going to meet up with the others. Would you like to come along?"

"I'd love to, unfortunately," Nico yawned, standing up and stretching. "I have to decline. There's a quick little trip I have to make."

"Let me guess, the infirmary?" The son of Hephaestus wiggled his eyebrows.

"I will eviscerate you."

"You'll what? Is that some medical term?"

Nico groaned, ignoring the blush creeping up his face again. He grabbed the nearest pillow, flinging it at Leo. "Get out of my cabin already!"

Leo dodged, cackling as the pillow soared through the air and hit the wall. "Whatever, you can't hide from destiny and all that other mumbo jumbo," with that, Leo Valdez spun on his heel and walked right out.

Hazel used that time to equip a pillow and nail the smug elf thing right in the back of his head as soon as he had one foot out the door, laughing when he shrieked in complain.

Nico grinned proudly. "I knew I could always count on you."

Hazel simply winked. "Of course. Now hurry, you don't want to be late to see you know who."

The proud grin was wiped right of Nico's face, replaced with a scowl. "Nevermind."

\----

It took a while, but Nico had finally decided what he'd get for Will.

A nice, warm cup of hot cocoa.

Nico was debating on whether he should've gotten coffee, until he realized that if he did, Will would probably start complaing about caffeine and all that stuff, so he decided against it. And honestly, Nico was too tired to deal with Will going off and ranting about healthy food choices or whatever.

The ground was sprinkled lightly with snow, and the sky was a bright blue, the sun casting radiation down on the camp. It was a beautiful day, and winter break was coming up pretty soon, but with everything happening, that was the last thing anyone here was thinking about.

There was a soft crunching of snow under Nico's combat boots every time he took a step, and soon enough it stopped when he finally found himself at the porch of the Big House, where like usual, Mr. D and Chiron sat, playing pinochle like they always did. Nico was honestly wondering if they ever got sick of doing the same thing every, single day.

Mr. D paid no attention to the son of Hades, making a quiet grunt and continuing on with his game, before lounging back and taking a sip of his Diet Coke.

Typical. Mr. D couldn't care less about the demigods.

On the other hand, Chiron, the camp activities director who actually cared about the wellbeing of the teenage heroes glanced up, noticing Nico's presence and nodding, sending him a small smile. "Good morning, child. What are you doing here so early?"

Nico glanced down at the cup of hot chocolate in his hands, watching as the marshmallows drifted aimlessly. "I'm, uh, checking up on a friend. Will. I wanted to see if he's okay at all,"

"Bah, he'll be fine, Nick Armello!" Mr. D huffed, not taking his eyes off his cards and taking another swing of Diet Coke. "You demigods and your constant need to start drama!"

Nico's eyes snapped up, sudden anger rushing through him like lightning. He sent a cold glare the god's way. "It's Nico di Angelo," Nico said through gritted teeth. "and—"

"That's enough, you two," Chiron chuckled, taking a sip of what seemed to be tea. He placed a card down, before making eye contact with Mr. D and calmly stating, "I win."

Mr. D took a look at the card, growling in frustration and flinging his own pile down onto the table. "Rats! Third time in a row! I don't get it, old centaur, how do you keep winning?"

Chiron had this mischievous twinkle in his eyes, not bothering to answer Mr. D's demands. "Well, we won't keep you waiting, Nico. Hurry along now, your friend must be waiting," With that, the centaur turned back to his mini tournament against the wine god. "Now, how do you feel about another round?"

Nico had to resist snorting at Mr. D's failure, and with that, entered the Big House. He made his way through the main room, ignoring Seymour the leopard head snarling at him, who probably wanted sausages or whatever ("Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, we get it,") and soon enough the son of Hades was finally where he wanted to be.

Well, the minute he walked through the infirmary doors he regretted it. Demigods and nymphs lay in cots. Demigods looking completely miserable, and the nymphs just looking... well, they didn't look any better. Nico noticed Thalia Grace from the corner of his eye, clearly having a disagreement with Drew Tanaka. They were both firing insults and remarks back and forth, and Nico decided it was probably better if he just... let them handle this one themselves.

(And there was the fact Nico really wanted Thalia to teach Drew a lesson, but he'd never say that out loud.)

"Mommy!" Nico turned to see Coach Hedge and Chuck, kneeling beside a certain cot. There in the cot lay a once beautiful woman, who now looked sickly and gray.

The little satyr looked up at his father with wide, bright eyes. "Mommy's sleeping?"

"Yes Chuck, she's sleeping," Coach Hedge answered after seconds had passed by, giving the young boy a thin smile, though it was pretty obvious that it was fake.

Nico debated on saying something. He really wanted to help out in some way, he really did. After all, he knew a bit on loss. But deep inside, he knew that whatever he said to cheer Coach up or anything probably wouldn't help. Sometimes you just have to let people deal with their own problems.

Nico sighed and took a look around the infirmary, eyes landing on the last cot right next to the wall, where a boy lay facing away from Nico and wrapped in what appeared to be very soft blankets. Wavy blond hair, vibrant like the sun, stuck up in every direction. Yep. There he was.

Nico advanced, trudging over to the son of Apollo's cot. Will was probably sleeping soundly, not a single sound made from him. It seemed like the first time that week since Will looked this calm and peaceful, ever since the sudden mood swing and his little outbursts. Hopefully, Morpheus was sending Will pleasant dreams today, he certainly deserved it.

A small smile snuck up Nico's face as he quietly walked over, his feet barely making a sound as he tiptoed up to the nightstand by the cot and silently set the mug of hot chocolate down, the cup making a quiet ting. Nico turned to glance at Will and all the serene vibes of peace had vanished as he had to force down an alarmed yelp as he jumped back, nearly stumbling over his own feet.

Well, now Nico knew that Will clearly was not asleep. Wide blue eyes stared at Nico with a cold, calculating gaze that showed no emotion, besides something that could've been mistakened for some murderous urge or something. Will was paler than usual, looking even more sickly than before. It was so convincing that for a quick minute Nico almost believed he was dead, until Will made a barely audible grunt. "Nico,"

Nico sighed in relief, his nerves calming a bit as he ran his hand through his hair. "Gods damn you Solace, you scared me half to death."

Normally, the usual Will he knew would take immense pride in startling Nico, but this Will didn't seem interested. He just stared blankly at the son of Hades, blinking at him with a bored and dare he say it, _annoyed_ expression. Nico began to grow nervous, and he swayed, waiting for a reaction from Apollo's son.

"I, uh, brought you hot chocolate," Nico said awkwardly, breaking the silence.

"I don't want it."

The bluntness is Will's tone surprised Nico greatly. "But..." Will interrupted, sitting up and glaring at Nico with immense hate.

"You know what I want, Nico? I want Cecil back. Some drink won't do that, now will it?" Will snapped at him.

Ow. That comment made Nico feel like someone stabbed him in the knee with a rusty blade. Nico froze, gaping at Will with a look of pure surprise and shock. Will didn't seem to care at all, he just stared Nico down, fists clenched and white. "You're quiet because you know it," Will sneered, an icy snarl on his face that didn't fit with him at all. "You know that I'm right."

Anger rushed through Nico's veins. So, Will was blaming him for Cecil's kidnapping, and everything that was going down. Nico felt cheated, betrayed. The same guy who was there when he was down was right in his face, accusing him for things. "And you know what? Your dumb, petty complaints won't do anything to bring Cecil or any other of those demigods back! So shut up and drink the hot chocolate," Nico retaliated, glaring hatefully at Will. "What the hell is your problem? Trying to start fights with literally _everyone_. My gods, take a freaking chill pill."

Will looked downright furious, ready to start shouting at Nico, but instead, he shut his mouth, inhaling deeply through his nose and looking down. The son of Apollo closed his eyes, suddenly calm. Eerily calm. "I don't want to do this, but gods, I _feel_ something so strange, yet so great. A feeling in my gut, urging for control, fo _r_ _power_. Medics don't have power. I want people to take me seriously, to _respect_ me. _To_ _fear_ _m_ e."

Will's eyes snapped open, filled with something that looked like bloodlust. He turned to Nico, shaking as a maniacal grin slowly spreading up his face. "And gods, Nico, _ho_ w _badly I_ _want_ _to_ _feel_ _bones_ _snapping_ _under_ _my_ _hands._ "

Nico took step back, his eyes widening. This wasn't the Will Solace he knew. Will Solace was peaceful, sure aggravating at times, but he wouldn't hurt anyone. This Will, however, was staring at him with a focused, bloodthirsty gaze, looking ready to tear him apart. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the dark purple mark on Will's arm, spreading out quicker than ever before.

"Will, calm down, you aren't thinking straight..." Nico muttered, slowly reaching for his Stygian Iron blade. "It's the curse talking..."

Will laughed. A crazed, maniacal laugh that sent chills scurrying up his spine, and goosebumps spreading up his arms like wildfire "Oh, no, this is the greatest I've felt in such a while, and you, Nico di Angelo, will not ruin it for me. Now get over here, you're first in line."

Nico quickly reached for his sword, but it was too late. Will Solace launched out of his cot, hands wrapping tightly around Nico's throat.


	16. Chapter 16

**N** **I** **C** **O**

Nico always hated being the center of attention.

Nico also hated being attacked by anything. So being strangled by someone he considered a friend clearly wasn't what he'd call a pleasant situation.

Everything went so unbelievably fast. Will attacking him, Drew screaming in terror, Thalia trying to crawl off her cot while yelling profanities, Coach Hedge shouting. The whole infirmary was in chaos in a matter of seconds.

Hands wrapped right around his windpipe and he could barely make a squeak of protest as he was shoved against the wall, which knocked most of the air out of his lungs. The son of Hades gagged, one hand furiously clawing at the Will's grip, the other reaching for his sword desperately. That didn't last long. Just when Nico got a solid grip on the sword hilt, Will yanked him away from the wall, spinning him around and shoving him harshly to the ground, not caring when a strained cry of shock was ripped right out of his throat. Nico's sword fell to the ground with a loud clang, far from his reach. He'd have to get out of this one on his own.

Will's awful, twisted grin only grew with malicious satisfaction. As much as Nico hated to say it, it actually terrified him greatly. For a second, he could almost see the resemblance between him and Octavian. Octavian, who used to be a power hungry little snake, ticking off everyone around him and Will, who sure was aggravating at times, was kind and peaceful, calming others down.

It was almost like someone had took away a part of Will's personality and switched it with Octavian's. A more violent version of Octavian. But the difference was: The augur was a wimp. A dead wimp now, but still a wimp. Will, however, was far from wimp. And that was a good thing for the most part.

Now, not so much.

"Will, stop—" Nico gasped as Will's hold constricted. It'd be a matter of time before Nico ran out of air. The son of Hades writhed, shaking hands clutched tightly around Will's wrists, desperately trying to pull the son of Apollo off him with much difficulty. "—hey— _ack_ _!"_

Will didn't seem to hear him, or even care about what Nico tried to say. He just tightened his grip around Nico's neck. A searing pain was already forming in his lungs from lack of air, and dark spots were already beginning to cloud his vision. He was pretty sure bruises were already forming on his neck.

Nico barely heard Drew shriek, "OH MY GODS DO SOMETHING! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

"STOP SCREAMING!" Thalia yelled back, just as she fell off her cot.

"Cupcake, stop strangling the other cupcake!" Coach Hedge ordered, probably reaching for his baseball bat.

Chuck well... you can probably guess what Chuck said.

"DIE!"

Well, that pretty much summed up everything that was happening.

It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe each and every second. Nico's attempts weren't getting him anywhere. Will grinned down at him, vibrant, bright blue eyes glowering down at him with such intensity, such hatred, such bloodlust.

Will sighed outwardly, eyes closed as he threw his head back and laughed, "Boy, this is the most fun I've had in this stupid infirmary! I think I could actually stand being here _twenty_ _four_ _seven_ if it wasn't just, heal, repeat, heal, repeat. I know I can do so much better than that. I can be so much more than Camp's stupid medic."

Nico didn't have much to say. He only could manage a strangled choke. He had mustered up most of his strength and it got him nowhere. The dark unknown was very tempting to Nico now, he was desperate to just feel nothing.

"Cupcake, the substance is messing with your system. Let go of the boy before you do something you'll regret," Coach warned.

"Ah shut it, old goat," Will snapped at the satyr, whipping his head around to glare at him, his fury obvious. "This is the most powerful I've felt in so, _so_ _damn_ _long_ _._ I'm not letting you take that away from me! Not after I've finally realized what I'm capable of!" The son of Apollo was screaming now, his grip on Nico's neck constricting a little more. "NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!"

"You're killing him!" Drew wailed, which was one comment Nico wasn't expecting.

Thankfully, Will quickly regained his composure, face twisting back into a sort of calm expression as he sighed deeply, and Nico could sort of breathe again.

Emphasis on _sort_ _of_ _._

Will didn't even bother addressing Drew's exclamation. He simply sighed. "But, no matter, you simply don't know what I can do. But that's okay, I'll allow a little..." Will pondered to himself for a bit. "demonstration."

 _High_ _vocabulary_ _._ _Well_ _done_ _,_ _Solace_ , Nico thought bitterly, still trying to get him to let go. "Will," Nico choked, trying to convince him somehow. "this isn't you, you don't know what you're—"

"My demonstration hasn't even started, how rude of you, Spooks," Will scolded, and for a second Nico thought he had finally cleared his mind. But that wasn't the case.

"Solace, let go of him already, unless you'd like to get fried," Thalia threatened, her fingertips already sparking.

Will ignored her. Instead, his clutch around Nico's neck only constricted more, nails digging into Nico's skin. Nico's eyes watered as he tried squirming his way out. With such lack of air Nico was almost convinced he was back in that jar.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you... I'd never hurt you. It's just a little sickness, nothing to worry about," Will assured him. From the corner of his eye, Nico noticed something about the mark of the Ichor Curse on Will's arm. It was spreading out more.

And dangerously close to Will's hand.

Which was locked around Nico's throat.

Nico's heart stopped as he pieced two and two together. He had to get away. _Now_.

Will had already caught on to his motive. The son of Apollo laughed. "Oh come on, it won't be too bad, trust me, Spooks." The mark was coiling around Will's wrist, slow and anticipating.

And in the blink of an eye, it happened. The snake struck.

And whatever Nico was expecting, it wasn't even close to what agony he experienced at that moment.

Excruciating pain shot through Nico's body like lightning, igniting every limb with an unseen fire. Nico lurched up, a strained scream tearing itself from his mouth. All thoughts of convincing Will were shut down, replaced with the wild need to _break_ _free_ _._ Nico writhed, kicking and shouting and screaming and clawing and doing anything he could to get that _maniac_ off and away from him. Images flashed before his eyes, memories of Bianca's death, Tartarus, getting outed, but also images he didn't recognize. He didn't have time to analyze those at the moment. Will was laughing maniacally, clearly having a lot of fun. Under all the agony, sudden rage bubbled up in Nico's stomach, and all he wanted to do was reach up and claw that look right off Will Solace's perfect face. To make him sorry he even put his stupid perfect healer hands on him.

He didn't get the chance though, Will was suddenly yanked right off of him and air surged through Nico's lungs once again, clearing his dark thoughts. Nico scrambled back, coughing and wheezing and retching violently, his hands flying to his throat. Thalia was right by Nico's side, a hand on his shoulder. "Yo, you good?" She asked, rubbing circles into his skin in an attempt to calm him down.

Breathing deeply, Nico nodded quickly. He made a quick mental note to cherish every breath he could take.

Meanwhile, a cackling Will Solace was being restrained back by Coach Hedge, and Mr. D, who had suddenly decided to show up. The god looked completely confused but also... a little startled. Nico found that sort of weird. Will was still lashing out, kicking and guffawing crazily. "SEE? SEE THAT? THAT'S POWER! POWER NOT EVEN THE GODS CAN HANDLE!" His head snapped towards Mr. D, a wide grin stitched on his face. "The world will be plunged in raging shadows, and there's NOTHING THE GODS CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

Mr. D scowled at Will. "You'd be better as a dolphin," He used a free hand to snap his fingers, and Will stopped, his eyes rolling up into his head as his body went limp. Mr. D and Coach Hedge let go, letting the unconcious teen drop to the floor like a full sack.

Chuck blinked at Will, tilting his head at the passed out demigod. "Die?"

"Yes, Chuck," Drew uncharacteristically growled through gritted teeth. Her fists were clenched and now turning white.  _"_ _die_ _."_

"What in Hades's name was that?" Coach Hedge grunted after a few minutes of processing what just happened.

"I don't know, but it was quite a nuisance," Mr. D huffed, annoyance on his face. "It ruined my pinochle game."

"That's all you care about? Your stupid pinochle game?" Drew screeched suddenly, looking seriously pissed off. "He could've _died_ , and you only care about your game?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow at Drew, probably thinking: _Whoa,_ _she_ _has_ _a_ _heart_ _?_ _No_ _way_ _._

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for your little temper tantrum, Tanaka—"

"I don't care!" Drew screamed, eyes bloodshot. "Care about your dying campers for once! They're the ones who actually _do_ the errands you should be doing yourselves!" She pointed at Will, who was twitching on the floor, black blood now pooling from his mouth. "Look at him! He's going freaking crazy!"

"He'll be perfectly fine—"

"NO, HE WON'T!" Drew was shaking now, her fists clenched and her knuckles turning white. "IF HE WAS FINE, HE'D WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT, AND THAT MARK ON NICO'S NECK WOULDN'T BE THERE!" Drew pointed straight at Nico. She never once took her hate filled eyes off Mr. D.

Thalia's eyes widened. " _Mark_...?"

All attention was turned on him. Nico opened his mouth to speak out, to tell them he was okay, but all that came out was a scratchy hiss and another coughing fit. He didn't like the way they were all staring at him. "Help Will, I'm fine," He managed to rasp finally.

Thalia ignored him and reached over, gingerly brushing Nico's hair out of the way to examine the mark. She muttered a quick "sorry" when he tensed from the sparks of dull pain slithering up his neck. "This is bad, this is really bad," She murmured after a few seconds passed by.

Nico pushed Thalia's hand away gently, happy to be free of physical contact. "That doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is _Will_."

From where he laid, Will made another strange gurgling noise. His whole arm was basically a dark purple, the mark of the Ichor Curse. The son of Apollo's usually tan skin was a sickly pale, and even though Will did try to kill him, seeing him in this state made Nico anxious. Besides, it wasn't really Will. Will Solace wasn't like that. He wouldn't hurt someone out of the blue.

But he did.

 _You should_ _hate_ _him_ , a voice in Nico's head hissed. _You should_ _hate_ _him_ _with_ _all_ _your_ _being_ _._

Nico shut it out. A grudge wouldn't be an option.

"Can you stand?" Thalia asked, lending Nico a hand, her eyebrows furrowed with worry. It was the same expression Bianca wore lot. She used to run on worry.

Nico wasn't too sure, but he nodded anyway, taking her hand and pulling himself up, even though his shaking knees threatened to buckle at any moment. "I think—" Nico winced when his voice cracked. "—this might be a good time for a counselor meeting."

Mr. D sighed dramatically. "Finally, a reason to leave. I shall go gather up the half-bloods and Chiron then."

**____**

"And there goes our healer," Katie huffed, laying back on one of the couches in the main room. She crossed her arms over her "lost to complete insanity. You know, this is just great. Absolutely splendid. I love this."

The remaining cabin counselors were once again seated around the ping pong table, along with the added praetors and cohort leaders (plus a few campers who decided they'd join in for some reason. No one really felt like arguing about it at the moment) About everyone had a frown on their face—except Chuck, of course. The strange kid never frowned even in the face of death. Even though there was a strong, sullen feel in the room, the young satyr sat on Clarisse's lap, a wide eyed look of interest on his face.

"C'mon, Katy Kat," Travis said, attempting to lighten up the mood and throwing an arm around her. "Don't—"

"I'm just stating the truth. Cecil was snatched, Miranda vanished, nymphs in comas, Camp Jupiter blocked, Will went crazy, it's a matter of time before Percy or Drew or Connor—" Katie sent Travis an apologetic glance when she noticed him flinch. "I, uh, sorry."

Travis only shook his head, muttering to himself and resting his head on her shoulder, already deep in thought.

"Death. Fun. Woooh," Percy yawned unenthusiastically, rubbing his eyes. Percy had also gotten seriously pale in a short amount of time, dark circles already forming under his eyes. He didn't look so great. Nico found himself placing a hand over his neck, where the mark of the Ichor Curse now settled. Even with the many bandages over the gashes Will gave him, he still felt a sharp pain in the area which caused him to wince.

Hazel frowned, obviously noticing his discomfort and gently taking his hand, moving it away from the mark. "Don't touch it until we actually know what to do, okay?"

"I know Hazzy, you've told me this three times now," Nico pointed out.

Hazel tucked a curl behind her ear. "I just want to keep you safe and healthy. This is the best state you've been in for such a long time and with this sudden curse breaking out it's just really stressful and—"

Nico didn't even bother forcing the small smile back. He was pretty grateful to have Hazel as his sister. "I get it. Just, please don't freak yourself out too much."

Hazel simply laughed quietly. "I make no promises."

"All aboard the pain train, whoop whoop," Thalia said sarcastically, scooting over and softly punching Nico in the shoulder. "This is gonna be fun, right Neeks?"

"Heh," was the only response Thalia got from him.

"Settle down, settle down," Chiron held his hands out, silencing the half-bloods. The centaur rolled forwards. "We understand how confused and frustrated you may be with the sudden turn of events—"

"Pfft, no kidding," Laurel Victor of the Nike cabin yawned. "All this is stressing me out so much."

"I bet I'm more stressed out than you are," Holly Victor, her twin, muttered under her breath.

Unfortunately for Holly, (and everyone else in the room, who was praying to every deity they knew) Laurel did hear her. She snapped her head around, snarling at her. "Oh really now? Well, let's see then!"

"Seriously," Jason sighed, pushing his glasses up. "we don't really have time for this, so I'd be great if—"

"Fight me, Grace!" The Victor twins both yelled at the son of Jupiter. Jason took a step back, his hands raised in surrender as the two sisters began bickering about who could fight Jason better.

"Girls, girls," Piper said smoothly, letting charmspeak pour out and sync with her voice. The twins stopped, turning their attention to the daughter of Aphrodite, blinking patiently. She continued, folding her hands together and giving them a smile. "How about you both calm down and we can start our hundredth meeting, kay?"

The daughters of Nike both nodded, "We will both calm down."

"Yes, yes you will."

"I can calm down better though," Laurel just had to comment. All color drained from Piper's face when the two went at it again, yelling and getting in each others faces again.

"Allow me," Lou Ellen rose from her seat, taking her beanie off her head and pulling out a baseball sized orb from it, the sphere glowing a vibrant blue. She tossed it at the feet of the two, which caused a huge puff of indigo smoke to appear, engulfing the Victor twins. Few seconds later the smoke vanished, revealing two Nike shoes. A pair of them.

"Two blue shoes," Percy seemed to realize, a slow grin forming on his face. "and it rhymes too. Nice."

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth muttered, rolling her eyes. Reyna put her hand over her mouth, subtly covering up a snicker as a cough.

Chiron patiently waited for the room to grow silent. Mr. D, on the other hand, was far from patient. "Brats!" He snapped loudly, glaring at the teens. "Quit your yabbering if you actually want this survive this terminal illness or whatever and pay close attention. One of our campers, Bill Soltis has—"

"Will Solace," Nico corrected, not caring about his obviously icy tone.

"Same thing. Do not interrupt me. Anyway, Bill Soltis has attacked a camper, resulting in a serious problem, since he managed to somehow pass it onto Nicholas here in such a short amount of time. He is now being watched over in the Apollo cabin, since it simply isn't safe for those healing in the infirmary. But thankfully, I have found the solution to this problem."

That got everyone's attention. The teens sat up, firing questions at both Chiron and Mr. D. Travis shot up from his seat, eyes wide as he let out a laugh of relief. "Seriously? Oh man, what is it?"

"We dispose of those infected. Simple."

The room fell quiet once again.

"So, we waste our time defending Olympus and in the end you just, kill us off like flies?" Frank asked, a scowl on his face.

"Exactly."

Percy snorted. "Yeah, right, and I'm great at singing. Sorry to burst your egotistical bubble, but it ain't happening." The son of Poseidon laid back, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring right at the god of wine. "you need us, as much as you'd hate to admit—" Percy suddenly sat up, slapping a hand over his mouth and hacking up blood.

"You were saying, Johnson?" Mr. D questioned innocently, snapping his fingers. A box of tissues appeared right by him. Percy quickly grabbed a few, his face red with embarrassment. Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed, her stormy grey eyes clouded with worry. She patted Percy's back, biting her lip. It was obvious she was trying to come up with something she could do to aid him.

"I'm afraid not, Dionysus," Chiron rolled forwards. "That would only slow the problem down. We must tackle it head on. And do keep in mind the curse isn't our only problem, the missing demigods are too."

"Cecil, Miranda, Jake, Dakota, Olivia, and few others right?" Leo asked, fiddling with a bag of bolts. "Man, once I get my hands on them, they're gonna wish they never ticked the Supersized McShizzle off!"

I'm punching them in the freaking face!" Ellis Wakefield declared suddenly, shooting up and slamming his fist down on the table, startling a sleeping Clovis, who made a garbled whine of surprise. "After I punch Markowitz for disappearing! That no good, punkass little... ugh!"

"Ditto," Lou Ellen agreed, a dark look on her face. "Once I find them, I'm going to turn them into pigs, and make them into bacon."

Chiron held a hand out to calm the campers down. "Now, now, don't get too reckless, we must—"

He never got to finish. The door of the Big House was thrown open, revealing Austin from the Apollo cabin. The boy stumbled in, eyes wide and bloodshot. He had a syringe needle sticking right out of his arm. "Big problem. Major problem," He managed, voice cracking. His knees shook, threatening to collapse at any moment.

"Austin? What—"

"It's Will. He, he's gone. He's gone, he ran off," Austin choked a bit, stumbling again. "He's, he's gonna—you gotta—you gotta—" The son of Apollo's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he finally crumpled to the floor, sedative still lodged in his arm.

**____**

  
Will had to keep running.

His feet pounded against the forest floor, crushing twigs, crunching snow. His teeth chattered, breaths coming out as puffs of steam. He didn't even think about slowing down and checking his health. His own health wasn't even a concern at the moment. Even though his  vision was blurry, his limbs felt frail, his thoughts were clouded, and a throbbing pain equivalent to a sledgehammer was pounding against his skull, he just had to get away. Away from _there_.

A surgical knife was clamped tightly in his clammy fist, the only thing he managed to snag when he got away from that place. His only chance of surviving. He managed to sedate one of the monsters, so maybe he'd be lucky and it'd slow them down a bit.

But even so, he couldn't stop running. He had to get away and find safe shelter. He had to get back to Camp.

Will hadn't even noticed he was running towards a steep hill. He dug his heels into the earth, skidding to a stop so he wouldn't fling himself down the icy side. He huffed, trying to catch his breath. He'd have to move quickly, who knows when they'd be coming for him. Will ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair, trying not to scream in frustration. He was cold and alone, and he was far from Camp. He wasn't even sure how he got there in the first place, plus, there was this strange purple mark that covered his arm.

He tried not to worry too much about that. Soon, he'd be able to treat it with the help of his siblings. Once he found Camp. For now, the only thing that accompanied him in the cold woods was himself.

Or so he thought.

Something clamped itself around his ankle, causing Will to let out an alarmed yelp. It yanked his foot out from under him, causing the healer to drop his only weapon and fall flat on his back, right on the sharp rocks and ice. He cried out, the air being knocked right out of his lungs. He attempted to scramble up, but his hands were held down, along with his ankles by some unseen force. He was going to die. He was going to die, defenseless and pathetic. He squirmed, kicking and shouting until a short, cloaked figure had suddenly emerged from the shade of the trees, making their way towards Will. 

"Hey, hey! Shhh," The figure spoke in a soothing feminine voice, kneeling down by him. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Just, stop."

"Who, what-?" Will croaked. His vision swam, black dots dancing in his sight. He wanted nothing more than to just pass out already, to fall into a deep, peaceful sleep. 

"Don't," The girl glanced up, cupping a hand over her mouth. "Ari! Lord! I caught—erm, found him!"

From where the girl had appeared, two more cloaked figures strode over, only their faces revealed. The shorter one was a pale girl, with bright amber eyes and curly black hair which cascaded down her shoulders. Another was a tan boy, with light brown hair and deep blue eyes. He wore some sort of crown on his head. There was something about the guy...

"Huh, he's pretty cute," The pale girl, Ari, stated, raising an eyebrow at Will. "He'd look better if he wasn't, you know, all dirty and stuff."

"That is not the point, Ariana," The tall tan boy didn't take his eyes off Will. He also knelt by Will, examining the disturbed demigod. He noticed Will's confused expression and chuckled. "Do not mind her, Solace. She's a strange one." The boy tilted his head. "Hey, isn't Cecil Markowitz a friend of yours?"

 _Cecil_.

And suddenly, all memory rushed back like a tidal wave. Cecil was gone. Demigods vanishing. Nymphs fainting. Cloaked figures. Ichor Curse. _Nico._

 _Oh no, no, no, no._ He wasn't safe. He had to go. Now. 

He had to get back to Camp, warn them, tell them, apologize to Nico, and—

"Yeah, I gotta go," Will squeaked, trying to get up again. His attempts were stopped when the tan boy placed his foot on Will's chest, pinning him down. 

"Aw, right now? I didn't even give you a proper introduction," The boy sighed dramatically, pouting a bit. The fake pout was quickly replaced with a very real grin. The grin of a ruthless killer. "The name is August Deus. And if you'd rather prefer Cecil Markowitz with a head, you'll have to come with us."


	17. Chapter 17

**N** **I** **C** **O**

Nico's week was just getting worse and worse every minute.

It had only been minutes since Austin Lake had revealed the bad news. It had been minutes since the son of Apollo had fallen unconscious, the drug used to sedate him still buried in his skin. It had been minutes since Nico's heart stopped completely.

Will, that freaking idiot, just had to stab his half brother in the arm with a freaking sedative and run off to who knows where. He probably ran off into the forests which surrounded Camp, and the forest was freaking huge too, how would they even find the son of Apollo? What if he got himself hurt? Or captured to who knows where with those freakin

They didn't even know what had happened to the other missing demigods. They knew the freaking cause of their disappearances, but not what happened to them. And it angered Nico. It really did. He didn't understand why Dionysus didn't seem to care a single bit about the problem, or feel the need to address the situation to Olympus. The gods could simply snap their fingers and deal with the problem. This whole thing could've been taken care of a long time ago, and Will would've still been healthy, and no one would've disappeared after Cecil.

But here they were, stuck in this situation. A situation that could easily be fixed.

Unless the gods were afraid of said rogues.

But that made no sense... why would the gods be afraid of some simple rogue demigods? That was the only answer they needed to piece the whole puzzle together. But for now, it would stay a simple theory.

Chiron sent demigods out in groups of three to search for the son of Apollo. After a few minutes, the teams of three were decided. Damien, Clarisse and Laurel were in one, Holly, Ellis, and Lou Ellen in another, etc. About three teams had left at the time. Nico himself was about to volunteer to join the fourth team, already getting up when Percy grabbed him by the arm. "Haha, no, you're still recovering. Sit right back down."

Nico had to suppress a low growl and tried wrenching his arm away. "Let go of me, Percy."

Percy's eyes narrowed. "Not until I hammer some sense into your thick skull. Going out like that, is freaking suicide. Besides, for all we know, Will could've already driven himself to the brink of insanity and gotten himself killed."

Nico gritted his teeth, trying his best not to retaliate. Percy was being a complete hypocrite. Nico knew if that was anyone Percy cared about, that Kelp Headed idiot would've flung himself right out that door. Nico didn't understand why he was suddenly trying to stop him from helping Will. If anything, he should've been the one backing him up on this. Nico glared at him coldly, again trying to pull away from the son of Poseidon. "That's bull. Now. Let. Go."

The two of them stared each other down, eyes narrowed and nostrils flared. Nico sure as hell wasn't going to back down, and it was pretty obvious Percy, wasn't either.

Nico ground his teeth, finally ripping his arm away from Percy's grip and suddenly blurting, "Since when did you care about what happened to me?"

Percy took a step back, looking shocked at the sudden outburst for a bit. he frowned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "I-I always did...?"

Nico almost snorted. "Yeah, okay."

Annabeth walked over, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder and sighing. "I'll go with him, if it'll make you feel better."

That just pissed Nico off some more. He respected Annabeth, he really did. But the fact she thought he really couldn't handle finding Will on his own really irked him. He snapped before he could even stop himself. "I don't need you two looking out for me, I'm fourteen, not _four_."

" _Mother, it's not a phase_ ," Thalia whispered, a small grin creeping up her face. Nico honestly didn't want to know, and at the moment, he didn't really care. He was too busy being annoyed by the one and only Percy Hypocrite Jackson. (He'd give Annabeth a pass. She was actually likeable.)

"Nico," Hazel pleaded, frowning disapprovingly at him.

"I know that," Annabeth said calmly, her voice soothing and slow. The daughter of Athena took a step towards Nico, cloudy gray eyes not once moving away from him. "but you did get hurt, and we don't know when the side effects will be kicking in."

Nico glanced at his half sister, noting her worried expression. That caught his attention. He sighed, slumping his shoulders and mumbling a quiet sorry. She shouldn't have to worry like this. But Nico couldn't afford to lose someone else. Not like this.

But he wasn't sure if he wanted to go with Annabeth Chase, of all people. Sure, they both enjoyed each others company, and they never really had any kind of obvious feud, even when he still had that crush on Percy. But they weren't exactly what you'd call close.

Though, on the other hand, Annabeth knew what she was doing. She'd been at camp since she was seven and had lots of experience. With her help and intellect, he'd probably-no, definitely have a better chance at finding Will.

Annabeth held her hand out for him. "What do you say?"

Nico hesitated, blinking at Annabeth's hand. Reluctantly, he agreed, reaching out and clasping his own hand around her rough one. "Alright."

They shook on it, a small smile formed on Annabeth's face as she let go. Behind her, Percy snorted, crossing his arms and glaring at some unfortunate object or person as he grumbled about how Nico always listened her. Jason patted Percy's shoulder, grinning a bit.

"I'm coming too," Before he knew it, Hazel had already locked arms with him, gold eyes shining with determination. "If we come across anything, I can make sure to bend The Mist to distract them."

As much as Nico disliked the idea, Hazel was right. Don't get him wrong, he knew she was powerful and could handle on her on, but the rogues weren't like anything they delt with before. Sure, there were the demigods with Luke in the Second Titan War, but they fought for justice, thinking they were doing the right thing.

The rogues were different. They were ruthless, cold, and they obviously didn't care about who got hurt. And there was still only limited information on them, their prime motive was still unknown. The groups would have to be careful at all times. After all, snatching up some random demigods was probably like stealing candy from a baby to them.

But, at the end of the day, the only thing Nico could really do was nod, and tell her "okay." He'd just have to trust her-

And before he knew it, Nico was roughly shoved to the side by Percy, who had yelped in alarm. Nico stumbled, startled by his sudden movement and nearly tipped over if it wasn't for Annabeth, who had managed to get a grip on his arm and steady him just in time. She frowned down at Nico, before looking up at her boyfriend with a look of surprise and annoyance. "Percy, what the hell was that-?"

Percy glanced back at the two, a bloody hand clamped over his mouth. Blood dripped down his chin, falling to the wooden floor. The cabin counselors took note, their own eyes widening and most of them were already reaching for their weapons.

Annabeth faltered, her features twisting from annoyance to worry. "Percy..."

"No, no, it's fine, really," He squeaked, his eyes darting around the room as he furiously wiped away some of the blood. "I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's fine."

Unfortunately for Percy, Nico wasn't falling for it. And it was pretty obvious everyone else in the room wasn't either. "Are you sure...?" Hazel questioned, obviously concerned.

"One hundred percent. Yep."

"You're a liar, Jackson," Travis whispered from his spot on the couch. Katie elbowed him, not a sign of emotion on her face when he whined in protest.

Chiron took a step forward, putting a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Percy, you should head down to the infirmary-"

"I said I'm fine!" Percy snapped defensively, spinning around whacking Chiron hand away before it even landed on his shoulder. "Really, I'm fine! I just," He coughed again, stumbling and nearly tripping over his own feet. "I just, need to have some space, okay?"

With that, he spun around and quickly made his way towards the door, stumbling and staggering like he had too much to drink (Which was a really odd way to describe it, since Percy despised alcohol). A trail of small blood droplets, mixtures of crimson and ebony, was the only thing that the son of Poseidon left behind.

Chiron sighed, muttering something to himself and glancing over at Jason, "Child, make sure he doesn't hurt himself too badly. And get Grover and Rachel while you're at it."

Jason didn't have to be told twice. The son of Jupiter nodded, already rushing out the door and following the other demigod.

Nico frowned, guilt making it's way through his system. He glanced up at Annabeth, who's expression was void of emotion. "Uh, you know," He started awkwardly. "It's okay if you want to stay, I mean, Reyna can just-"

"I-" Annabeth hesitated, staring at the door. After a few seconds, she gritted her teeth and shook her head. "No. Besides, he's Percy, he'll turn out okay."

That wasn't the answer he was expecting from her, he was expecting her to go without a second thought.

"Ah yes, the I, Annabeth Chase, am not clingy plan," Thalia mused quietly.

"The what?" Leo asked.

"Nothing."

From where she sat, Reyna stood. "You three should really get going now. For all we know, Solace could be freezing to death out there. Or worse," She glanced over, making eye contact with Nico. He got what she was implying immediately. And he hated it. He hated thinking about what would happen to him if he was taken.

Sure, Will did strangle him and nearly killed him, and Nico knew he should've felt angry, but he wasn't. He was angry, yes, but not at Will. Something was messing with Will's head, he couldn't help it.

But deep down, Nico wondered if he meant what he said when he was losing his mind. He also wondered what Will was thinking. If he was aware of what he was doing at the time, if he approved or if he was battling himself during it. After a bit, Nico decided he'd push back his relentless curiosity. It'd just bring him pain anyway.

Nico sighed and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply to calm himself down. He just hoped they could find him.

**wait** **for** **it** **...**

____

**carry** **on** **.**

They couldn't find him.

Well, it had only been a few minutes since they actually left the Big House and went through the woods of Camp Half-Blood. Sure, it would take way longer than Nico had wanted for them to find Will, and he knew it.

The problem was, he didn't have the patience. And that lack of patience was the ultimate reason he wanted to drive his fist through the nearest non living thing and scream at the Fates for doing whatever they were doing. But when did something like that ever end well? It usually ended up with the situation growing even worse.

The sun was still shining brightly, causing the the pearl white snow to sparkle. The winter breeze was cool and fresh, the gentle wind brushing Nico's hair out of his face. Personally, Nico found that a bit offensive. The fact that it was such a nice day, and poor Will couldn't cherish it with him.

Hazel and Annabeth were currently a few feet ahead of him, both conversing about who knows what. Nico was too caught up in his own thoughts to try paying attention to whatever they were saying.

"Nico?"

Nico glanced up to see Annabeth and Hazel, both waiting for him to catch up to the two. Hazel looked concerned, and Annabeth, well, it was sort of hard to tell what she was thinking. Her stormy gray eyes were fixated on him, and he found himself quickly averting his gaze. She had one hand stuffed in the pocket of her jacket, the other wrapped tightly around the hilt of her drakon bone sword she had somehow retrieved from Tartarus.

 _Tartarus_ _._ Nico shuddered, pushing those unwanted thoughts back. One thought would lead to many others, and he didn't want to deal with them at a time like this. He subconsciously raised his arm to scratch the back of his neck, but the minute his fingers grazed the mark, a small jolt of pain caused him to drop his arm immediately. He hoped it wasn't too obvious.

"Nico," Annabeth said this time, frowning at him. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry, I was thinking about something," He explained lamely, trudging over to the two and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his winter jacket.

"About Will?" She asked, tilting her head a bit.

Nico hesitated, avoiding eye contact with the daughter of Athena and instead staring down at his worn out combat boots. "Yeah. About Will."

Annabeth turned, walking forward and placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, you don't have to feel bad about being worried for him."

Nico didn't look at her.

"Nico, being closed off like this isn't going to help you. I know it's hard, finally trusting someone after so long without care and having them snatched away from you. But we will find him, okay?"

Nico noted that he should really buy new combat boots.

Hazel and Annabeth shared a look, before Annabeth sighed, removing her hand from his shoulder. "I was in your place once. Lost, confused, angry. My dad? He didn't love me. My stepmom? Couldn't stand me. I was basically a burden. I couldn't trust anyone. I was alone for a while. I ran away at seven, met up with Luke and Thalia, lost them too after a while. It was hard to open up after Thalia's death."

Nico blinked, suddenly curious. He raised his head to look at her. He never knew this about her. If anything, he had always thought her life was pretty perfect for a demigod. Annabeth gave him a small smile, before continuing.

 _"_ Now look at me. I have great friends, I have a boyfriend who loves me dearly-" She winced a little when she stated that certain part. "-I have a stable home, and soon, I'll be heading off to college in New Rome."

Nico blinked, unsure whether he should make a comment or not. But he understood what she was implying. Hazel too was silent, watching the whole conversation with interest and curiosity.

"What I'm trying to say here is that it'll get better. Sure, life has it's ups and downs, but it'll get better. And just know if you need anything, you can always come to me, okay?"

Nico blinked again, making sure he wasn't hallucinating the whole thing. It was nice of her, looking out for him even when they had not much of a connection before. He felt touched, in a way. And it would've been rude to not express his gratitude.

Maybe he really could trust her.

"Thank you," a smile tugged at his lips. A small part of him hoped it wasn't a creepy one. Leo's comments sure did lower some self esteem. Nico pushed that thought away. "Seriously, that's really nice of you."

Annabeth raised a questioning eyebrow, and for a second Nico was _terrified_ that he had offended her somehow. He let out an uneasy laugh, waving his hands. "No, no, I mean, I'm not saying you're not nice, it's just-"

Annabeth laughed, reaching out and ruffling his hair with a grin. "Save it, Nico. It's totally fine."

Nico whacked her hand away, but it was a lighthearteded gesture. It reminded him of how both Bianca and Reyna would do the same thing.

"Now come on," Annabeth gently pushed Nico forwards, in a sisterly way. "We got to-"

A boy started screaming. Somewhere in the forest. Nico immediately froze in his spot, body going rigid as his eyes widened as he slowly processed the sound. It was faint, and far away, but it was familiar, and Nico would've recognized it anywhere.

"Will," Hazel was the first one able to utter out the name.

And suddenly Nico was running.

Hazel and Annabeth were right on his trail as he barreled through, jumping over logs and ducking under protruding branches, slipping over ice and nearly falling over a few times. He stumbled, his arms flailing at his sides as he struggled to keep his balance, but managed to keep running, his feet sinking through the cold, crunchy snow.

"Will! WILL HOLD ON!" Nico hollered, his voice cracking. He gave up on dodging, instead slashing through any branch or bush blocking his path.

Annabeth was yelling at him, shouting incoherent warnings, but he didn't care. He didn't have the time to care. He just had to get to Will, who was most likely only armed with a small knife.

The screams were getting louder, and Nico kicked up the pace, his feet pounding through the snow as he twisted and turned through the maze of trees.

"WILL, BUDDY, WE'RE ON OUR WAY!" Nico turned, noticing Travis Stoll up ahead, his own team racing towards the pleads. From another direction came Lou Ellen and her group, the daughter of Hecate already wielding two magic spheres in her hands as Holly and Ellis followed behind her, both equiped with their own choice weapons.

"Wait! Nico, stop! WAIT!" Annabeth shouted once again, quickly catching up to the other half-bloods. "WAIT JUST A MINUTE! SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT-"

No, not now. Not when he was so close. The screams had finally died down, and Nico decided to ignore her, instead charging after the other two group, who had already barreled into a clearing, right where a giant rock sat. Zeus's Fist.

But there was no sign of Will Solace. Will Solace wasn't there.

Instead, a fifteen foot cyclops stood in his place, clutching a struggling Travis Stoll by both wrists. Travis swore wildy, kicking and squirming and attempting to free himself by any means. Nico stopped dead in his tracks, trying to catch his breath. "What, but, how," He panted.

From behind him, Annabeth cursed. " _Di_ _Immortales_ _,_ _I_ _knew_ _it_ _."_

"It's a distraction," Ellis huffed from beside him, already backing away. "It's so he can get away." The son of Ares pointed at an area ahead, where a cloaked black figure was running, already far from sight.

"Hello, _Spooks_ and the others," The cyclops crooned, still using Will's voice as he towered over the group of demigods, giving them all a hideous toothy grin. "Care to join us for a meal?"

\-----

Cecil's mind was blank.

It had only been a few hours since Miranda had killed that demigod with no remorse. The scene was still tattooed into his mind, the image of that poor demigod, bleeding out while Miranda waved her axe around, her grin wild as blood trickled down said axe, dripping on the floor while that crazed crowd roared. Cecil had fought the urge to spill his guts all over the floor at the time.

Now, he was drinking mint tea, with Randy, evil bandana guy, out of all people.

It was against his will. The stupid guy casually showed up at Cecil's cell, dragging him out by the arm while humming some happy song, which after a while, Cecil realized he was humming some Fall Out Boy song and was immediately disgusted by the fact they liked the same band.

And then that made him think about Lou Ellen and Nico, who both were hardcore Fall Out Boy lovers. That made his heart ache quite a bit, remembering that one night all of them got along quite a bit, both Lou Ellen and him belting out lyrics while Will would agressively play the ukulele and Nico would just laugh and laugh. Those were great times.

Such sad. Very depress. Wow.

"Tea, Markowitz?" Randy asked, kicking his legs up on the desk and raising an eyebrow at the son of Hermes as he took a sip. The room the two demigods were in was, dare he say it, pretty cozy.

Cecil took a look at the cup of warm tea in front of him, steam curling gracefully and floating around. The soothing scent of fresh tea filled his senses, and he had to resist sighing. He had to admit, it was pretty tempting, especially since it was winter. But, he liked to think he was smarter than that.

Cecil pushed the glass away, glaring off to the side and refusing to make eye contact. It made no sense to him, how someone so awful could brew up something so pure. "No thanks. You probably poisoned it or something."

The blond demigod faked a pout. "Ah, come on, don't accuse me of something so coldblooded."

"You freaking laughed when Miranda killed that demigod," Cecil pointed out, turning back around to look at Randy, his eyes narrowing.

"Legacy, actually," Randy corrected.

"Huh?"

"That was a legacy, Markowitz," Randy repeated, pouring himself another cup of mint tea. "We don't capture demigods and kill them off just like that. That'd be such a waste."

Cecil gaped at Randy. He couldn't believe the way just dismissed that kid's death. "And you... you think that makes a difference?" He asked.

"Definitely. Why wouldn't it?"

Cecil snapped. He stood, slamming his fists down on the desk, his shackles clanking and rattling with the sudden movement. "Because they're breathing, just like you and me."

"Monsters breathe too, what is your point?"

"You're sick, and I should punch you in the nose." Cecil stated, clenching his fists and giving Randy his best glare.

Randy raised his eyebrows at Cecil, a small smirk appearing on his face. "Must I say, you are pretty cute when you're angry."

Cecil blinked, confusion etching his features. He was well aware of the fact his face was starting to burn up. "Ex...Excuse me?"

"Anyway, Markowitz—actually, do you mind if I call you Cece?"

"Yes, I mind very much. And also, backtrack, did you call me cute—"

"So anyway Cece," Randy continued, acting as if he had never even made that comment. "you need to chill. It's not my fault, I'm just following Lord August's orders. I do need a job, after all, or else my sad demigod life would be oh so boring?"

Cecil sat back down in his seat, eye twitching. "Or, you could go to—"

"Nope. Not going to your crappy, arrogant deity worshipping camps. Not even an option," Randy scoffed, cutting him off. "My goodness, that would be a nightmare."

"I was going to suggest insane asylum, but whatever."

Randy gasped dramatically, placing a hand over his chest. "How rude, after all I've done for you, Cece."

Cecil bit back another comment, instead shutting his mouth and turning his head to glare at the window. All these comebacks were useless, not even getting him anywhere.

"Why," Cecil asked finally, not really knowing what else to say. He turned back to Randy, staring him right in the eyes. "What's the point to any of this? Why do you even need us anyway? I thought you hated us 'olympian worshipping pricks' anyway."

Randy took a sip of tea, before setting his cup down and answering with, "It's sort of, private," Randy shrugged. "But then again, what are you even going to do about it? So, Markowitz—"

"Duran," Cecil turned to see the one person he hoped he wouldn't have to see again. August Deus stood in the doorway. "Why are you always attempting to converse with the olympian mutts?"

Randy gave the guy a crooked grin, slumping back in his seat. "What? You can't blame me, the monsters can't keep a conversation interesting."

"Yeah, yeah, just, enough with the Cupid mojo. Maybe that's why, what's his name again, Xavier—?"

To Cecil's surprise, Randy flinched noticeably. The son of Cupid quickly cut him off, staring down at his cup. "I get it. You don't have to tell me."

"I'm just stating the truth, Brandon," August turned his gaze towards Cecil. "You. Hermes spawn. Get up. You need another training session if you want to be fit for my plan."

Cecil couldn't help it, he made an aggravated huff. "What now? Do I have to play fetch with rabid, blood thirsty hellhounds? Or are you gonna hang me over a pit of hydras and see which head can snatch me first?"

August simply smiled, obviously amused. He leant against the doorframe. "Well, aren't you quite the creative one."

"Spit it out already."

August's expression hardened. "I'm the one making the orders here, Hermes _junk_. And your order is to come with me. You have a battle to head to."

A gladiator fight. Just like the one they put Miranda in. They wanted him to kill too.

Jokes on them. Cecil had a thing for breaking the rules. He crossed his arms the best he could and raised his chin with confidence.  "No. I don't care what you do to me. I'm not killing anyone for your pleasure. No."

"Aaand he did it," Randy mumbled under his breath.

August only smiled again, this time uncharacteristically sweet. "Okay. That's absolutely fine. You just need..." He trailed off, tilting his head and snapping his fingers. "a little motivation. Bring him in."

The last part made no sense to Cecil, until a tall, buff seeming cloaked figure walked in, holding some heap in his arms. Cecil only then realized the heap was a _he_ , the minute he noticed the mop of blonde hair, and his heart stopped.

Will Solace, unconscious, and sickly pale lay in the figure's arms. There were dark, dark bags under his eyes that should've never been there in the first place. But what really made Cecil's stomach churn was the dark purple mark, enveloping his whole arm. Cecil swore, sitting upright and staring at them with horror. "Oh my gods, what... What the hell did you do?"

August didn't answer, he only glanced back at the figure with a smile. "Your assistance is no longer needed. Leave him and go."

The figure nodded simply, dropping Will to the floor without a second thought and walking out the door. Will hit the floor with a loud thud, groaning quietly. Cecil, thankful he was alive  launched himself out of his chair, already running to his best friend's side, but August beat him to it, already grabbing Will by the back of his shirt, yanking him up and pressing an imperial gold dagger to his throat. Cecil stopped in his tracks.

"Alright, Markowitz. You do the simple task, and I won't slit Mr. Solace's throat. After all, there are many, many other disposable Apollo children I could just, snatch," August hummed, digging the dagger into his skin and letting little droplets of dark red blood drip over the blade. "But it's your choice."

Cecil faltered. "I—"

August was slowly moving the blade, ready to slice skin.

"Alright! Fine! I'll go, just, don't touch him, okay?" Cecil said frantically, his voice cracking. "Just, please? Leave him alone."

August grinned once again, letting go of Will and letting him fall to the ground one last time. "For now, I shall." He said simply, wiping the blood off his blade. "Now, hurry up before I decide to change my mind. I am very indecisive."


End file.
